 |
We've been living in this house for
over 10 years, and for the first time ever we've been invaded
by mice! Our Little Cat is on the job though... she's caught
about 5 so far. |
|
Game distributors are dropping like flies! A
few weeks ago Zocchi announced it was folding, and now Wargames
West is following suit. Bummer! |
|
|
We got to see it just in time... that last standing
piece of the WTC that I took a photo of last
week was taken down just a few days after our visit. |
 |
"I really do like my 'Me-Time'." -- Elliott to Finch, as they discussed the upside
of being in a three-person relationship on a recent episode of
"Just Shoot Me" |
|
|
In response to last week's residual thought about
chocolate, caramel, and almonds, I learned not only that several
such confections are available from See's Chocolates, but also
that for those of us not lucky enough to live within their radius
of availability, you can order custom-packed boxes of these delights
via their website. |
|
"Hey, now, no one's saying that death isn't
sad. But it's also the Mt. Everest of Life. And I say when your
time comes, climb it! Who knows what wonders may lay at the icy
summit of Death Mountain. It might be nice up there! And think
of all the people that have gone before you... you may get to
shake hands with some of the greatest minds in human history!
Maybe death's just nature's way of saying 'try again'."
-- The Tick, in his eulogy to the Immortal |
|
|
"Best is the enemy of Good." -- A saying I adopted from Jay Costenbader back when
I was at TSI, which struck my sister-in-law Ruth's fancy during
her recent visit to town |
 |
Is there a candy bar that features chocolate,
caramel, and almonds? Settle for peanuts instead and you've got
a Snickers bar; or cover pecans with chocolate and caramel and
you get one of my favorite treats, Fannie May brand Pixies (they're
even better than Turtles). However, the only way I know of to
enjoy the unique blend of chocolate with caramel and almonds
is to unwrap both a Rolo and an almond Hershey's Kiss, and pop
'em into your mouth at the same time. |
|
|
"There was a full lunar eclipse that evening,
and our games were constantly being interrupted as people went
trudging out into the snow to watch its progress. In a scene
which will be forever etched in my memory, John called out in
frustration to a group of players who were heading for the door
yet again: 'The students are not allowed to leave the classroom!'
'But Master,' replied Andy as he shuffled out with the rest,
'there is a demon eating the moon!'" --
Kory's Design
History of Zendo |
|
Kristin has been experiencing a lot of pain
and weirdness in her hand this week. As you may recall, she seriously
injured it
last summer; she's since regained full usage, but not full sensitivity.
She figures the recent pains are the nerves in her still numb
fingers finally re-establishing contact up the arm... |
|
|
"Throughout the federal government, agency
after agency is shifting priorities in order to fight the war
on terrorism. Except, apparently, the Drug Enforcement Agency
(DEA). Amazingly, the biggest news out of the DEA since September
11 has been a massive new crackdown on drug users whom we know
not to be associated with terrorist suppliers: medical-marijuana
users. Can't the DEA or Congress find a better way to use the
DEA's resources?" -- Dave Kopel, in his
National Review column this week, entitled "Wasted" |
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|
Zocchi Distribution is going out of business!
(And they owe us a bunch of money, too!) They were the very first
distributor to give our product line a chance, so they had a
special place in our hearts. We are very sad to see them go. |
|
Annie's
now has a microwavable single-serving macaroni & cheese,
and I pronounce it to be the best of any rapidly prepared single-serving
M&C on the market. Yum! |
-
|
Assets from Iron
Crown Enterprises were sold off in a bankruptcy auction,
and the buyers (a wealthy long-time fan and several former ICE
employees) are reviving the company! |
|
|
"You can't stop Thursday."
-- something I've started saying when we're prioritizing tasks,
to remind ourselves that some deadlines are more firm than others |
-
|
Alison has become hooked on the classic real-time
computer game Warcraft, so I finally have a willing opponent
again! (They're hard to find, since I'm an old-school die-hard
who refuses to "upgrade" to Warcraft 2...) |
-
|
I'm totally excited about this
plan to save the crumbing New York State pavilion by filling
the walls and ceilings with glass and turning it into an Air
& Space museum. What a great idea! Among other things, the
new museum would beautifully showcase the original space shuttle
Enterprise, which there isn't room for in the NASM. I hope this
project succeeds! |
|
"The National Air & Space Museum in
Washington, D.C. consistently ranks among that city's most popular
draws for visitors. There is no reason to believe that a world-class
museum of that order in New York would not have the same draw...
Could there be any other location in the city so ideally suited
for an aeronautic/space related facility? Could there be any
other building so ideally suited to such a project?" -- A
Proposed Air & Space Museum for Flushing Meadows |
|
|
"Here's a troubling source of toxins that
hasn't made it onto the average environmentalist's radar screen:
methamphetamine labs. For every pound of the illegal stimulant
produced, six pounds of toxic waste are left behind. Not surprisingly,
there's no environmental oversight for meth labs, so the toxic
waste is often dumped into rivers or directly onto the ground.
The waste contains benzene and phosphene gas, among other toxins,
and can cause explosions, burn skin, impair mental functioning,
damage lungs, and, in the worst cases, lead to brain damage and
cancer." -- Grist Magazine's Daily
Grist for 10/31/1 |
|
"Cannabis is a 'wonder drug' capable of
radically transforming the lives of very sick people, according
to the results of the first clinical trials of the drug. Tests
sanctioned by the Government are proving far more successful
than doctors, patients and cannabis campaigners ever dared hope."
-- Anthony Browne, writing for UK's the Guardian,
"Cannabis
a Medical Miracle - It's Official" |
-
|
I would say the turnout for trick-or-treating
in our own neighborhood was about half of what we're generally
used to. But I guess that's not too surprising, with the national
paranoia level being what it is today... |
-
|
Yay! We have DSL again! We've been without it
(getting by with dial-up phone line access) for many months. |
|
|
"Those who do not remember the past are
condemned to repeat it." -- George Santayana
(1863-1952) |
|
I was pleased to notice, when I tuned in for
the annual rebroadcast of "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie
Brown", that 2 of the 3 "I got a rock" trick or
treat scenes have been restored! They've been absent for almost
as long as I can remember, presumably cut to make more time for
commercials. |
|
|
There's been a lot of chatter on our mailing
lists this week, concerning the idea of making, for promotional
purposes, a Christian expansion for Fluxx. We've never been entirely
sure about this idea, and after reading all the email, we're
even less sure about it now. But that's precisely why we describe
plans like these on our What's
on the Stove pages... to find out how people will react.
(One thing we do know for certain: we love the internet. It's
the ultimate tool for focus group testing.) |
 |
The United Kingdom is re-classifying
marijuana, so that possession will no longer be an arrestable
offense! This means that, on this issue at least, the country
we once fled to find freedom will soon be more free than our
own. |
|
|
Chrononauts made this year's Games
100! That bring my total such listings to six: Icehouse,
Icebreaker, Fluxx, Aquarius, Icehouse:TMCS, and now Chrononauts. |
-
|
All that coca-cola I drink is catching up with
me... I have several new cavities! Tomorrow morning, I go under
the dentist's drill. |
|
|
I got a Notice of Allowability yesterday! My
IceTowers patent
application has been approved, as submitted! I'm getting
my second patent! (Odd fact: the same examiner handled my case
a decade ago, when John and I were granted patent #4,936,585,
for that other real-time pyramid game.) I don't know yet what
number this patent will get; hopefully, we'll have the number
in time to make mention of it in Playing with Pyramids. |
|
In my experience, standard helium balloons have
a life expectancy of 12-18 hours. But some of the balloons
Alison got for John lasted nearly a week! This dramatic increase
in balloon lifespan was apparently achieved with some sort of
sealant they glop inside the balloon before inflation. |
|
|
Ikea has started building a new store, just up
the street from us! (Ikea is totally our favorite furniture store,
but currently we have to drive for an hour to get to one.) |
|
There are times when it's actually frustrating
for a TV show *not* to have a commercial break for a really long
time. (Similarly, there are times when I'd really like to be
stopped by a red light, which of course is when the lights all
turn green.) |
-
|
Today, my sister-in-law Judy is undergoing surgery,
to remove a brain tumor. Assuming the surgery goes well, everything
should be fine, but they're saying it will be a slow recovery.
This means the weeks ahead will be a tough time for their whole
family (she and Jeff are raising a fine pair of twins) so I hope
everyone will wish them well. |
|
Judy's surgery went very well and she seems to
be on track for a speedy recovery. It'll be awhile before they
can be sure that they got the whole tumor, but they are quite
optimistic and everything seems to be going as well as can be
expected under the circumstances. |
|
|
A new purple metro line, which would run along
the beltway from Rockville to New Carrollton, is actually being
seriously discussed! (The plan even has opponents!) |
|
"What can we do but eat cookies at a time
like this?" -- sentiment of an article in
the LA Times, "Americans
Fend Off Sorrow With Laden Fork and Spoon" |
|
|
"Indeed, where is the United States military
to fight? Afghanistan, which has sheltered deadly terrorists
for years, is an almost certain target. But Pakistan, which has
sheltered deadly terrorists for years, is suddenly an ally. And
how is the United States military to fight? It could bomb Afghanistan
to mountains and scrub, but Afghanistan is already little more
than mountains and scrub. It could send in troops, but if you
are a terrorist, and you see the US Army coming, you make like
a civilian and head for a crowd - or better, the border. The
Soviet Army killed more than a million people in Afghanistan
before giving up and withdrawing in defeat. Washington has fought
this kind of war before. Every president since Richard Nixon
has declared "war" on drugs. Every presidential candidate
has emphasized that he will win the war on drugs, because each
president before him has failed. But there is no drug lord in
chief, no single network to break, no one nation to beat or sanction
into submission. The idea of a war on drugs implies that we can
eradicate the problem - as likely as police eradicating crime
or firefighters eradicating fire - and that dooms the US to failure." -- Douglas McGray, "Don't
Oversell An 'Idea War'" |
|
"I call my plan 'Operation UNCLE SAMta
Claus,' and it would work like this. Every year the State Department
could release a list of naughty and nice nations. The former
will get rewards in the form of desirable American consumer goods;
the latter, lumps of coal. If we're afraid the naughty nations
might use the lumps of coal for fuel we could give them Chia
Pets, handkerchiefs, or other completely undesirable gifts. Nations
falling in the middle would get nice cards wishing them happy
holidays. The whole world would spend the year trying to get
on our good side so that come Christmas they'd get nice presents.
Governments whose representatives calls us dirty names at the
U.N. or who taught their schoolchildren to chant 'Death to The
Satanic Zionist Yankee Imperialists' would be overthrown by angry
mobs when their citizens realized they were getting stale fruitcakes
for the holidays while the residents of nearby pro-American nations
were getting attractive Timex watches or Amana Radar Ranges." -- Alvin Orloff, I Married an Earthling, page
19 |
|
|
It seems to me the best way to combat anti-US
terrorism would be to figure out why so many foreigners hate
us, and craft a foreign policy designed to at least make them
stop feeling that way, and maybe even give them cause to like
us instead. It's hard to see how any sort of retaliation-oriented
military action will have this effect. Shouldn't we just "do
the Christian thing" and forgive them? |
|
The current issue (Oct 2001) of Wired magazine
features a really cool map among the illustrations for an article
on all things Tolkien: The world of the Lord of the Rings rendered
as a subway map, showing the routes of the Middle Earth Transit
Authority. |
|
|
"If a significant number of people convince
themselves, or are convinced by their priests, that a martyr's
death is equivalent to pressing the hyperspace button and zooming
through a wormhole to another universe, it can make the world
a very dangerous place. Especially if they also believe that
that other universe is a paradisical escape from the tribulations
of the real world. Top it off with sincerely believed, if ludicrous
and degrading to women, sexual promises, and is it any wonder
that naive and frustrated young men are clamouring to be selected
for suicide missions?" -- Richard Dawkins,
"Religion's
misguided missiles" |
|
With the War on Terrorism now heating up, can
we please finally call off the War on Drug Users? I think we
as a nation should be limited to one expensive, military-oriented
"solution" to a complex and impossible-to-completely-eradicate
social problem at a time. One thing we can be sure about: the
suicidal hijackers weren't pot-smokers. |
|
|
I'm surprised we haven't yet heard any officials
vowing to rebuild the WTC towers... but then again, will we ever
feel truly safe in such huge buildings again? Remember how the
searing image of the burning Hindenburg ended the giant airship
era? Perhaps this will be the death-knell for the mega-skyscraper... |
|
All Hail The Internet! Via email, we were able
to determine that the close friends we have in NYC were all OK,
even though the phone lines into the city were all jammed. (Meanwhile,
others were doing the same thing to check up on us, since we
live in the DC area (though not actually near the Pentagon)...) |
|
|
I guess I'm going to have to add a specific
rule to Q-Turn
which says that if I'm attempting to move onto my victory space,
for the win, but an opponent is blocking my space and has just
been sitting there re-orienting, specifically to try to keep
me from winning, then that player's piece is ejected from the
board, and I get to move in. It's very fiddly, but seems to be
necessary... |
|
I was sad last week because my classic old Mac
SE, which I've been using as a glorified
typewriter, refused to reboot. But since then, I've switched
to a vintage Powerbook, which I was given by Kerin Schiesser
while we were visiting
California. At the time, I wasn't quite sure how to make
use of it, but now it's my new writing computer. Thanks again
Kerin! |
|
|
"I think the Emperor's new cards look just
stunning!" -- Jesse Welton, on the BetaTesters
mailing list, after several others had posted messages saying
the PDF files of two new Nanofictionary card sheets they were
supposed to be able to download for playtesting were coming out
completely blank |
|
"Interesting fact - I have as many email
addresses as I do telephone numbers. Only Andy Looney had an
email address in the 15 year reunion memory book!" -- Sandy Roush Caho, in an email to planned attendees
of Northwestern High School's 20 year reunion |
|
|
"Two decades ago, the author book tour
was almost a novelty. Today it can be the deciding factor in
a book's success. Touring has always been as much about selling
the author as the book. Turn the author into a traveling salesman,
and those personal appearances generate real sales -- important
when a few thousand books can make a best seller -- not to mention
media attention on local radio and television and reviews in
the local press." -- writer Malcolm Jones,
in an article in this week's Newsweek entitled "The Hard
Sell" |
|
"There are a lot of people like me who
can smoke weed and still get a day's work done."
-- award-winning film director Kevin Smith, in an interview in
High Times magazine (the current issue also has a description
of the first time the Beatles tried it, written by the guy who
brought both the weed and Bob Dylan to the party) |
|
|
"The sad
story about Marlene's father reminded me of a new research
finding I read about just yesterday: Children who watch an average
of more than 4 hours of television per day are significantly
less likely to intervene or call for help in an emergency. Speculation
is that this is related to a) the overrepresentation of happy
endings on TV, and b) being accustomed to 'experiencing' emergencies
passively." -- email from 'Becca
Stallings |
|
Now that we have Fluxx
Blanxx to work with, I've started trying out new card ideas.
My favorite of late is the New Rule "X = X +1" (submitted
to the big list of ideas by Neil Raynar). It has great results
that aren't immediately obvious. For example, Secret Data lets
you hide 2 cards, Draw 3, Play 2 Of Them becomes draw 4, play
3, you need an extra Keeper to win with 5 Keepers, and Everybody
Gets Two! |
|
|
Some of my readers were unclear as to why I'm
bothered about thieves stealing the aluminum cans out of my recycling
bin during the night. No, it's not as if I'm losing anything
personally, but I count myself as lucky for living in a neighborhood
with curbside recycling, and I hate seeing it undermined by robbers.
I'll be really upset if the city kills the program because it's
not cost-effective... |
|
Alison started a new part-time job at a flower
shop this week, and it's much closer to home than the one she
worked in this spring. In fact, it's within walking distance,
and it's such a nice route that Kristin has started walking Alison
to work in the mornings. And it sounds like it's a nicer work
environment, too! |
-
|
Someone in our neighborhood is stealing our
aluminum cans. Once a week we put out the recycling, and in the
wee small hours of the night, just before the recycling truck
starts making the rounds, someone is apparently driving around,
stealing the aluminum cans out of the curbside bins, leaving
behind all the less-profitable plastic and steel recyclables. |
|
"The great thing about time travel is that
you can make up the rules. Nobody knows."
-- Simon Wells, great-grandson of H.G. Wells, in an article about
upcoming time travel movies entitled "Time
travelers arriving in far greater numbers", appearing
in USA Today |
|
|
"Yeah, OK, sure! Even though you didn't
invent the game, you can be in the picture too."
-- a fan named Tony who didn't realize he was talking to James
Ernest as he sought to take a photo of the team from Looney Labs |
|
"Another one of them new worlds... no beer,
no women, no pool parlors, nothing. Nothing to do but throw rocks
at tin cans and we gotta bring our own tin cans."
-- Cookie in "Forbidden
Planet" |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Writing a set of game rules is really very much
like writing a software module. In both cases you are creating
a set of instructions that must be clear and concise, as short
and efficient as possible while also addressing all cases and
possibilities. I find that streamlining a set of rules draws
on the same skills as debugging a piece of code. (So if you want
to be a game designer when you grow up, be sure you study computer
programming.) |
|
Among gamers one often hears the term "rules
lawyer", which makes me wonder: do lawyers make good game
designers, or at least, good rulesmiths? How does writing a set
of game rules compare to writing a contract? |
|
|
I'm really getting into having a pet snake! I'd
never spent any quality time with a snake before Alison got this
one, and was slightly worried I'd feel about them as I do about
insects (i.e. "Ick! Get it off me!"). But instead,
it's the exact opposite: I dig having Benji curled around my
neck as I putter about the house... |
-
|
Marlene's
father was on his way home from Korea when he suffered a cerebral
hemorrhage and was found unconscious. He passed away today at
a hospital in California. As some of her closest friends, we
wish we could be home to help comfort her in these difficult
times. |
|
|
"Dude, you have to, like, pay attention
to cards other people are playing, and actually remember things,
and stuff. Pffffffffff. Just thinking about it makes me feel
frustrated. Give me a Time Vortex any day! Here lies the ruins
of your delicate, five-turn look-ahead strategy! See the smoking
embers of your carefully figured hand probability ratios!" - Jason McIntosh on the Chrononauts mailing list,
describing why he likes my style in game design |
|
"Once upon a time, in 1773, a few brave
patriots painted their faces, converged upon Griffen's Wharf,
and hurled 342 crates of British tea into Boston Harbor. Paul
Revere was there. Samuel Adams organized it. John Hancock was
a tea smuggler, and actively supported it. Today, we venerate
these men as heroes. They all broke the law, because the law
was absurd, and deserved to be broken."
-- Jeff & Tracy,
in a full page ad they placed in their local newspaper, admitting
that they smoke pot and urging others to stand with them |
|
|
Tomorrow is July 20th, anniversary of the first
moon landing. I think in 50 or 100 years, Moon Day will be a
national holiday. It will be a day to celebrate exploration,
and a good day for trying something new. Got any plans? |
|
- "It's nice arriving somewhere at night - night cloaks
the mundane with intrigue." -- Brian Eno,
on arriving in Egypt on Feb 23, in A Year with Swollen Appendices
(his diary of 1995)
|
|
|
There's a new creature here at Wunderland.Earth:
Alison got a new snake! His name is Benji (the second) and he's
a ball python. (I've never lived with a snake before... they're
cool!) |
-
|
We just started getting used to the idea of ordering
our groceries online and having them delivered, when suddenly
HomeRuns.com discontinues
this service! |
|
|
- "Everything purple belongs to me... everything else
can be painted or stained." -- Bumper sticker
slogan I heard described by someone who wished she'd bought one
when she'd seen it
|
|
- You really notice the lack of insects in California when
you return to hot muggy Washington DC after a week
in San Francisco. I asked Kory how he could stand the mosquitoes,
since he move here from San Jose two years ago. "I still
just love the fireflies," he replied. "It's like having
fireworks every night."
|
|
|
"When reviewing the game of Darts, I couldn't
see any reason not to put all the darts into the bull's eye." -- Robert C Atwood, sarcastically replying to an
old review
of Icehouse by Peter Sarrett ("We also couldn't see any
reason not to play attackers so that their tips touch the pieces
they're attacking"), posted to the Icehouse Mailing List
along with "other possible reviews by that reviewer"
of Bowling, Chess, and Snooker |
|
- Steve Hauk has started a new story featuring the Emperor
of Da Universe, and will be posting it on his website
as he creates it!
|
|
|
We attended the TSI-TelSys annual shareholder's
meeting this week, and although the stock is barely worth a dime, the company
is still going full-steam ahead and may yet become a success.
There were many new faces, morale seems good, they have paying
customers, and they're developing new lines of business. Go TSI! |
|
 After years of loyalty to the Reese's Peanut
Butter Cup, I have recently decided that my all-around favorite
item from the candy aisle is: Nestle's Wonka Bar. Not only does
it have an unbeatable gobstopper
factor, but I also think it's an ideal candy bar: delicious milk
chocolate (with the delightful
crunch of graham cracker bits) of the perfect size and shape,
sealed in a purple wrapper. What could be better? I wish I had
one right now! |
|
|
It's so great having help!
For months, I've been casually trying to think up a scenario
to use as an isolated example of the Chrononauts time travel
mechanism (for use in my patent application) without getting
much of anywhere; so I asked Dave to come up with something,
and he did, instantly! And it's great, too - just what I wanted.
And that's what he always does when we ask him to do something! |
|
While in a comic book store on Divisidero, Kristin
bought me a new book by the Quit
Your Job guy, James Kolchaka, called the Sketchbook Diaries.
It's great! Each day for a year he drew a little four panel comic
about whatever happened to him that day. |
|
|
And then there's Lauren, our pretend employee.
The help she's been continuing to provide Kristin during her
recovery has been absolutely incredible, and we're really going
to miss her when she does finally find a job. (If only there
was some way we could afford to just hire her ourselves...) |
 |
- Thof (thoaf') v. to spill a sugar-based beverage
(preferably large) on a gaming table, such that a new and/or
expensive parlor game is damaged (or at least made sticky), e.g.
"Dang, I thofed Coke on my copy of Shaufenster!" [from an incident involving Eric Celerier (aka Thof)
at a meeting of the Zen Pirates]
|
|
|
"The things I dislike about dogs are the
same things I dislike about drunken frat boys. They're always
slobbering and trying to jump on you." -- 'Becca Stallings |
|
This was the first time Balticon was held on
a weekend other than Easter, and it was definitely disorienting,
particularly since the feeling of Eastertide was still to be
felt here and there: the refreshment tables in the Con Suite
and the Green Room were stocked with leftover Easter candy! |
|
|
Chrononauts won a Parents'
Choice award! It's a Silver Honor Winner! Woo-hoo! |
|
I find it terribly ironic that the Supreme Court
has decided to make a special exception for a golf star to break
the rules of the game, by using a golf cart to ease his sore
legs, just weeks after ruling that even people with terminal
illnesses cannot smoke pot to relieve their pain, despite the
fact that many states have explicitly legalized such use. Never
mind compassion or the will of the voters, but Sports Über
Alles! |
-
|
We receive Chrononauts from the card printer
in a carton designed to hold 48 decks; however, if you load them
in a different way (5x5 vs. 4x6) you can actually fit 50 in the
box! I've seen it happen once! So, it's like a contest: buy 48
copies of Chrononauts, and you might win 2 extra decks free! |
-
|
"The moral bankruptcy of the drug war was
highlighted again last week as US officials announced that the
Taliban rulers of Afghanistan would be receiving about $43 million
in anti-drug funds for forcing farmers to abandon opium crops
that had previously been tolerated. As columnist Robert Scheer
pointed
out in the Los Angeles Times, the Taliban has created one
of the world's most repressive governments. Women have been effectively
stripped of all rights in Afghanistan, and leaders have caused
other recent international uproars by destroying ancient Buddhist
statues and announcing that religious minorities will soon be
required to wear identification tags. But all this can be forgiven
by the Bush administration, because these totalitarians are allies
in the drug war." -- DrugSense Focus Alert
#210 May 23, 2001: "Taliban's
Tyranny No Problem For Anti-Drug Aid" |
|
|
Though I disagreed with many of their omissions
and inclusions, I was pleased to see that A-Ha's "Take On
Me" placed 8th on VH-1's countdown of the 100
Greatest Videos ever. For me, this one set the standard by
which all videos are measured. |
|
|
Though I'm disgusted by their refusal to acknowledge
the glaring unconstitutionality
of drug prohibition as a whole, I'm not too concerned about the
Supreme Court's rejection of the medical necessity defense for
marijuana use. Though I mourn the plight of the sick and dying
for whom it would have been beneficial, exemptions for the seriously
ill do little to address the real harms of prohibition. Legitimate
medical uses are an excellent way to bring up the subject, but
legalizing pot for such uses alone is like treating cancer with
a band-aid. We must accept the reality of recreational use as
well, and tax and regulate the stuff as we do with tobacco and
booze. The law is the law, says the Supreme Court, and only Congress
can change the law. |
-
|
"Apparently, Clarence Thomas and Co. forgot
a slightly more important statute than the Controlled Substance
Act -- the Constitution of the United States! Remember that one?
I think it's still mentioned in high-school civics classes. Grab
a copy if you have one handy and open that grand, national operating
manual to Article 1, Section 8. This section lays out in very
clear terms the enumerated powers of Congress -- what our representatives
are permitted to do. ( Pay attention, Clarence. ) There are not
many items listed, and you'll probably notice the striking absence
of anything about regulating marijuana -- or any drugs for that
matter. It's not in there. Establishing postal roads, declaring
war, coining money -- that much is enumerated, but not a word
about dope." -- Joel Miller, "Supreme
Court's Reefer Madness" |
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|
- "Cannabis can also be used as a catalyst to the generation
of new ideas. Experienced cannabis users know that under its
influence new ideas flow more readily than they do in the straight
state. They also understand that some are good and others are
bad ideas; sorting them out is best done while straight. ...
An illustration comes to mind. ... Would the idea have come or
come as easily in a straight state? Maybe."
-- Lester Grinspoon MD, "To Smoke or Not To Smoke: A Cannabis
Odyssey", presented to the NORML
Conference 4/20/1
|
|
- We got the comment cards back from this year's Mensa games
competition, which selected Dao (a game I've heard is as broken
as tic-tac-toe) as a winner this year, over Chrononauts and Cosmic
Coasters. As I read through numerous complaints from people who
apparently found our games too complex and/or confusing, I have
to wonder if these people are really as bright as they make themselves
out to be. Maybe my mouth is just full of sour grapes, but compared
to most of the rulebooks I see Gamers absorb without flinching,
our rules are simple, and our games easy to learn. I guess it
just goes to show, Mensans are no match for Gamers.
|
|
|
- Regarding all the controversy over the first Tourist in space,
all I can say is: It's about damn time! This is the year 2001,
isn't it? Didn't anyone see the movie? We're supposed to have
a whole hotel up there by now! Of course someone who ponies up
$20 million bucks for a trip into space should be allowed to
go!
|
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- "This game is horrible. Never allow the person(s) who
invented this game to breed." - Comments
on Cosmic
Coasters from a male Mensa Judge between the age of 14-33,
collected at the 2001 Mensa Mind Games competition (but hey,
he still gave me a 7 for "originality"...)
|
|
|
- The guy with an empty place-holder site at LoonyLabs.com
let the site registration lapse, and Kristin was able to snap
it up, so it's ours now and we didn't even have to pay someone
off! (It wasn't a big deal, but people often misspell our name,
so it'll be nice to be sure we're capturing that traffic.)
|
|
- We tried doing our grocery shopping over the internet this
week, using HomeRuns.com,
and it rocks! (They're only operating in the DC and Boston areas
so far, but if you live there, check 'em out!)
|
|
- What more proof do you need that drug prohibition is the
work of Satan than for a plane filled with Christian missionaries
to be shot down by an "anti-drug" fighter plane? And
would this story have gotten any press attention if the civilians
murdered had been ordinary drug dealers?
|
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- "The thing that struck me was that this whole scare
story was a lie. I had been brought up believing lies. It was
like when I found out that Santa Claus didn't exist. My God,
that meant that the tooth fairy didn't exist! And neither did
the Easter Bunny! This was kind of the same thing. I thought
'Gee, this is all a lie!'" -- New Mexico
Governor Gary Johnson addressing the National Organization for
the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), as reported in the Washington
Post, 4/20/1
|
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|
- "I have nothing to add. I just like saying "the
player who has sex on the table wins.'"
-- Andrew J. Petrarca, on the Fluxx
mailing list, in a discussion of new Keeper and Goal ideas
|
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|
We're now sold out of several products, and we're
just gonna be out of stock for awhile. We've run out of blank
Fluxx cards, but Fluxx Blanxx is still on the Stove;
we've finally sold out of the original printing of The
Empty City, but the new Icehouse book series we'll be re-issuing
it under is also still on the Stove;
we've started rationing Nuclear War (the leftover
Fluxx promo we have the fewest of); and we're so low on Aquarius
decks now that we're turning away store requests, reserving the
last few dozen for our direct customers, and I fear we'll run
out completely before the next
printing is completed. I wonder how long those Icehouse sets
we built last weekend will last... |
|
Question for any Californian Rabbits
in the San Francisco area: What's going on between June 8-18th?
That's right, Looney Labs will be in town, and we're looking
for parties and gaming events to drop in on. We're starting to
hammer out a tour schedule, and we need to know who's interested
in hosting what when... |
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"Holy Cow! Once again I have to remember that you are
a "Bolt From the Heavens" game designer, while I am
an 'Old Guy Tinkering in the Back of a German Shoe Shop' game
designer..." -- Kory's
response when he heard I already had a prototype for the new
game I'd just thought of |
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|
"I'm with Andy, Gaming Goodness is in inverse proportion
to size." -- Ross Andrews, in a discussion
on the Rabbits
list of the purple
bag and other ways of carrying around your games |
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|
"I'm not sure who to direct this email to but, I want
to thank you for promoting my Londa Tarot deck and giving it
such high praise... AND you are long hair enthusiasts! Unbelievable...You
made my day." -- Londa Marks, of the Londa Tarot, in
an email she sent us after discovering our site |
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|
"At Pop
Tart Cafe #3, I spent a bunch of time teaching people to
play Icetowers, and I was getting to the point where I could
beat three beginners almost every time. I thought I was getting
pretty good, then Andy sat in on one game and proceeded to stomp
all over everybody and keep me humble. He assures me that Alison
is much better than he is. Eep. =^>"
-- Elliott C. "Eeyore" Evans, on the Icehouse
mailing list |
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|
"This [customer service via e-mail and telephone] was
an unheard-of innovation in the gaming industry, where rules
questions were usually answered by whatever bearded company grognard
opened the fan mail on a given day, and only then if you included
a SASE and made an intelligent reference to Robert Heinlein."
-- John Tynes, in an article at Salon.com entitled
"Death
to the Minotaur" |
|
|
I didn't gamble away a single cent in Vegas, but as soon
as I got home I found myself wishing I'd looked into placing
a highly specialized bet: I wonder what odds they're giving on
who'll win Survivor 2? I'm rooting for Amber. |
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|
"I have a friend who once told me that when
he was a little boy he lived in the north of our country, a desertic
zone. He said his father used to smoke a joint and take him and
his little brother out walking in the desert. His father, being
stoned, was in a similar condition of amusement walking in the
dunes and looking at the cactii as the kids. He remembers it
as the best quality time he ever spent with dad."
-- story accompanying one of the many emails I get in regards
to my Stoners in the Haze
piece (the vast majority of which, by the way, are positive),
in this case from someone in Chile named Javier [I also recently played advice columnist to a non-smoker
in a rocky relationship with a daily stoner, codenamed "Stoney"
(they still broke up, but I think the email exchanges we had
helped her sort through their various issues))] |
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|
"It was an incredibly thrilling experience." -- Steve Jobs, "Triumph
of the Nerds", describing the satisfaction of simple
Basic or Fortran programming in the early days of the micro-computer
revolution |
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|
"To me, the spark of [the Hippie movement] was that
there was something sort of beyond what you see everyday. It's
the same thing that causes people to want to be poets instead
of bankers. And I think that's a wonderful thing. And I think
that this same spirit can be put into products, and these products
can be manufactured and given to people, and they can sense that
spirit... If you talk to people that use the Macintosh, they
love it. I mean, you don't hear people loving products
very often - you know, really." -- Steve
Jobs, "Triumph of the Nerds" |
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|
"What's more, the side-effects of smoking marijuana
day and night for 15 years appear to be zero. DeQuattro said
his team tested Kubby for cognitive function before and after
smoking and found his mind, memory and motor skills unimpaired.
But the discovery that really jolted them was the lungs. Here
they had a subject who admittedly smoked a couple hundred joints
a month for 15 years -- a perfect opportunity to measure the
damage from chronic high level consumption -- but they couldn't
find any. 'His respiratory functions are the same as for someone
who never smoked at all.'" -- "The War
on Drugs Takes Another Hit" by Mike Gray |
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|
The last two cat fatalities we went through both involved
intestinal troubles. Could this be because we've been using clumping
cat litter, which I've suddenly learned
may have significant health risks? |
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|
According to recent tests conducted on pipes found at his
home, William Shakespeare was a marijuana smoker!
(It just goes to show you, those stoners never amount to anything...) |
|
|
There's a game of sorts I like to play when wandering around
a convention: I get points whenever I discover a group of people
playing a game I invented. I get bonus points if the people are
strangers, if they're playing a game when they should be doing
something else, etc. This weekend at JohnCon I scored big: I
found the demo team in the Steve Jackson Games/Cheapass Games
demo room playing Fluxx! |
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|
"Work fully in the open and I'll quit *saying* (no insinuations
here) that you're a secretive clique. Display basic competence
in performing your basic duties and I'll show some basic respect.
Keep on prancing around in tuxedos and I'll keep laughing at
you." -- Steve Jackson (yes, of SJ
Games) during a minor flamewar that erupted this week on
the Academy (of Game Design) mailing list, relating to a big
scandal unfolding now in the adventure game industry, regarding
recent changes to the Origins Awards procedures |
|
|
I'm just dying for That 70's Show to "do"
Gilligan's Island (like they did with Star Wars and more recently
I Dream of Jeannie). I can totally see it. Donna & Jackie
would be perfect as Ginger & Mary Ann, Kelso is obviously
Gilligan, and Eric the Professor, leaving Hyde to be the Skipper,
with Red & Kitty obviously being the Howells. And Fez? He'd
either be a Marubi headhunter or the wacky guest star who shows
up in the lagoon with a boat (or other rescue mechanism) for
Gilligan to wreck. |
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|
"Cigarette butts can be soaked in water to make an extremely
toxic bug spray. Nicotine is a very powerful poison that can
kill just about any living creature." --
Ellen Sandbeck, Slug Bread & Beheaded Thistles |
|
|
Our Little Cat has learned to play fetch! I throw a toy mouse
down the hall and she'll chase after it and bring it back, over
and over again, just as if she were a little dog! |
|
|
I finally took (informally) the Myers-Briggs personality
type indicator test, and came up as XNTJ (Introvert/Extrovert
- Intuitive - Thinking - Judging). This apparently makes me a
"Scientist/Field Marshal," whatever that means. |
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|
"That's not how I would have handled that."
"How would you have handled that?"
"I wouldn't have had kids."
-- the father and his stoner brother on this
week's episode of "Grounded For Life" |
-
|
We received the new Chrononauts
T-shirts, and they're flawed! The text accompanying the logo
on the sleeve is shifted and overlapping. And of course, there
isn't time now to reprint them before Toy Fair, so it looks like
we're stuck with them. The printer is trying to make it up to
us by slashing the price, so if you pre-ordered one, you can
look forward to a discount, since we naturally wish to pass these
"savings" on to you... |
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|
The DARE program's own people held a press conference to
admit that their program doesn't work! They announced that DARE
graduates go on to use drugs at an equal or higher rate
than students not exposed to the program, and are scrambling
to invent a new curriculum. Meanwhile, researchers in the UK
have determined that marijuana prohibition plays no role whatsoever
in deterring pot use. |
|
|
Why are Star Trek calendars always so full of pictures of
the actors, with so few images of starships and space battles?
That's the stuff you want to freeze frame on -- the stuff that
goes by so fast you can hardly see it. I got a desk calendar
this year, hoping that with hundreds of images instead of just
12, the ratio would be better, but no. I wish they'd make a calendar
with nothing besides scenes of starships and space battles. |
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|
"One of the best and most unique puzzle games ever made" -- that's how they introduce Icebreaker at Underdogs.org,
a site devoted to making abandonware freely available. Apparently,
you can download the complete 150 level version from them, along
with a "no-CD crack" designed to override the mandatory
CD-style copy protection that the Magnet management insisted
on. I've not tried it yet myself though, since only the Windows
version is available and anyway I prefer to play it on the 3DO |
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|
Kristin slipped on the stairs while she was carrying her
iBook, and it flew out of her hands and tumbled down the stairs!
Amazingly, it seems completely unharmed. Good thing it was fully
closed and shut down (and that we have carpeted stairs...) |
|
I know two people who I think would do really well on Survivor:
Chris Welsh and Alison Frane. I wonder which of the two would
be the first voted out? |
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|
"Any possession of cannabis for personal consumption
will no longer provoke a reaction from the justice system unless
its use is considered to be problematic or creates a social nuisance."
-- Magda Aelvoet, Belgium's Health Minister,
on that nation's recent decision to legalise
the personal use of pot for anyone over the age of 18 |
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|
"In our society today, much of our drug policy is based
on misleading and even patently false information about illegal
drugs, the physical and psychological effects of illegal drugs
and the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of current drug policies.
Even more disturbing, the advisory group determined that false
information frequently comes from sources that we expect to be
reliable, including our own federal government." --
Advisory Committee Chair (and retired state judge) Woody Smith,
in a transmittal letter accompanying New Mexico's Drug Policy
Advisory Group's recommendation
to decriminalize marijuana |
|
|
We've just heard that a new course at Rice University, called
World History Through Games, will be featuring Chrononauts
on their syllabus! In fact, they're starting the class with it!
They apparently bought every copy they could find in the local
game stores and then came to us to get more, since the class
was heavily oversubscribed. Assignments will reportedly include
creating other TimeLines. |
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|
"The rules for Cheapass Games often include witty or
ridiculous remarks, and I was wondering if y'all have favorites.
Here's mine: 'You can use the pieces from a regular chess set
to play Tishai, or you can carve your own pieces out of horn
or bone.' That quote alone made me want to play the game." -- Clark D Rodeffer, on the Cheapass Games mailing
list (The thread went on to conclude that the best line of all
is from The Great Brain Robbery: "What do we want? Brains!
When do we want 'em? Brains!") |
|
|
The subway is complete! This week, the last 5 stations on
the Green line were opened, thus finishing out the original design
of the system. I've been watching them color in the posted plan
all my life, so it's pretty amazing to think that it's really
done. And of course, it isn't, for now they can start expansions...
already, a new in-betweener station is being built on the Red
line at New York Avenue, and among the new routes being considered
is an Orange line extension out to Dulles Airport! |
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|
"It's time to bring on a drug czar who can skip the
cheery rhetoric, face the fact that the facts aren't good, and
turn the wheel before we head over the cliff. I nominate
Gov. Gary Johnson. Is there a second?"
-- Arianna Huffington, "Bush's
Drug Czar: A Modest Proposal", The Sacramento Bee, 1/11/1 |
|
|
Gobstopper (noun):
A real-world incarnation of a product or object depicted in a
work of fiction. The term was coined by Ron
Hale-Evans after a confection made by the Willy Wonka chocolate
factory. |
-
|
"Surely the Arch-fiend of semi-mythical Icehouse games." -- Alexandre Muñiz's description of Kory Heath,
on his page about semi-mythical
Icehouse games |
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|
"McCaffrey is reported to have often uttered to his
cowling subordinates, 'I'm sometimes wrong, but
never in doubt.' Unfortunately for the American public
and international community, 'Fibber' McCaffrey was often wrong
and undoubtedly a failed Czar." -- Allen
St. Pierre, Executive Director of NORML |
|
What became of the moon around the Planet of the Apes? It
would have been a dead giveaway for Taylor and his chums to see
that familiar body hanging in the night sky, so instead they
explicitly pointed out that the planet has no moon. So what happened
to it? |
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|
"The essence of the Liberal outlook lies not in what
opinions are held, but in how they are held: instead of being
held dogmatically, they are held tentatively, and with a consciousness
that new evidence may at any moment lead to their abandonment.
The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and
the intelligent are full of doubt." -- Bertrand
Russell, as seen quoted by Rash |
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|
Inferior, well-marketed products are routinely more successful
than superior goods sold by smaller companies who can't afford
the saturation advertising used by their larger competitors.
For value not lost to advertising budgets, seek out the quietly
advertised. |
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|
"I don't know any 50-year-olds who wear
tie-dye and have long hair, but I can extrapolate a little. I'm
20, have long hair, and wear tie-dye. Andy Looney, proprieter
and resident mad scientist of Looney Labs, is 35, has long hair,
and wears tie-dye (shameless plug: Mr. Looney's games really
are excellent. Swing by www.looneylabs.com for a peek -- I especially
recommend Fluxx and Aquarius). I can imagine both him and myself
and others doing the same for a long time. It's not, as you seem
to claim it is, an expression of childishness... For me, and
for others, bright colors and wild patterns are simply a way
of expressing vibrancy, life, and independence from arbitrary
societal restrictions. History shows that true progress is made
by those who are different, and refuse to be ashamed of their
differences.... It is very petty of you, Mr. Engle, to denounce
someone's capability to function in society on the basis of their
fashion choices." -- Jack Bishop, in a message
on alt.drugs.pot I found when I typed "Andy Looney Labs"
into the deja news search engine |
