Brunching Shuttlecocks is my I-Ching. Every time I wander through, I find new things to ponder. Today's bit of wisdom:

"Mercury

The cruelest metal. With its hypnotic liquidity, it begs you to run it over your hand, see if flow across your skin. And of course, if you do, you end up in the moron ward of your local hospital. It's as if God, having finished the whole Forbidden Fruit of Knowledge affair, turned to the transition metals for more work in the same motif. C+"

Also, new RPG idea: The Age of Chaos. D20 modern setting, basically what happens if you mix Principia Discordia/Illuminatus with Call of Cthulhu. Imagine a war between the crazy and the
Mad, for control (or in the Discordian's case, non-control) of the world, and the multiverse. Probably fairly lowish powered, except behind the scenes, but a lot of weird. Basic premise: The Beyond, a mind(?) of vast power, seeks to lock everything into mad perfection. The only people able to resist Its lures are those who gave up on rationality entirely. Norms who try to fight it almost inevitably get driven to the brink, but Weirds (ie Discordians, the Fae,the Church of the Subgenius, etc) can roll with its punches. Now the problem is organizing them....

So thoughts? If anyone likes the idea, I can start writing up some stuff for it. I'll probably start a blog for it, with anyone wanting to contribute signifigantly as a co-author.

You scored as Existentialism. Your life is guided by the concept of Existentialism: You choose the meaning and purpose of your life. “Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.” “It is up to you to give [life] a meaning.” --Jean-Paul Sartre “It is man's natural sickness to believe that he possesses the Truth.” --Blaise Pascal More info at Arocoun's Wikipedia User Page... Existentialism 100% Hedonism 90% Utilitarianism 75% Justice (Fairness) 55% Kantianism 15% Divine Command 5% Strong Egoism 0% Apathy 0% Nihilism 0% What philosophy do you follow? (v1.03) created with QuizFarm.com

They've still got it.

It's always nice to have all your hopes fufilled. Went to Captain Tractor live at the Pat last night, and it was frigging awesome. The guys were unbelievably energetic, and just fun to watch. I also found out that I know basically all the words to all their songs, except for the stuff from the new album, and I'm learning those now.
Which brings me to the new album. I have to say, I didn't know what to expect when I heard that Brock Skywalker had left the band. But this new album is just damned good. It's got a lot of the feel of their first couple albums (it reminds me of Land a great deal). TJ, you're probably going to enjoy this one. It's got more of their patent silly songs than the last two albums had (example: Happy to be Unhappy: it's a gothic love song) and it has a more folky, gritty sound. It's not perfect; It's missing the angry edge that Brock always seemed to bring to songs. Also, it feels a bit too clean and polished for my tastes. Still, overall, a damned fine mix of tunes. As CT put it, this isn't a comeback album; This is a "doing what they always did, and having fun while doing it" album.

I Throw down the Gauntlet!

To TJ: (well, this may not be as much down your alley, Kelly, but feel free to play as well)

I offer a contest: Design a world!

The rules:
1. It has to be distinctly different from Earth. No alternate timelines
2. You have to design at least 5 different species, from distinct phyllums.
3. You have to detail how energy flows work on the world. Is it solar powered? What's the primary producers? Etc.
4. Any chemical system is possible (no plasma life-forms please. That's just too "anything goes" for my tastes)
5. Your creatures can't violate known physical laws. No creatures producing more energy than they take in (but a creature living off zero-point energy or cold fusion might be cool! Neither of these have been entirely ruled out)
6. One of the species has to be intelligent and tool-using, and not a damned bipedal mammaloid (is that even a word?) Any cat creatures/lizard men/humans with funny skin will be ruled dull. Other than that the intelligent species can be at whatever developmental level you want.

That is all. Post your world on your blog with a link to this post. Anyone interested?

Goldberg, eat your heart out....

For those who love the idea of Goldberg Machines....

First, the Honda ad that inspired these guys. Pretty cool looking, but just watch what it inspired.
Now I feel the need to set one of these up. Who has a free 8 hours or so?

Movies I'm starting to get really excited about...

Here's my list of must-see movies for this year:

Tideland and The Brothers Grimm: Both Terry Gilliam films, both very different looking, but fascinating.

MirrorMask: By Neil Gaiman. Very twisted, extremely interesting visually.

Steamboy: An steampunk anime about a boy and his jetpack. What more could a person possibly ask for?

Serenity: Firefly: the movie. I just don't see how I can justify missing this, ever.

Hitchhiker's Guide: Well duh. This is the ultimate geek-treat (sorry, Lucas, but this one tops you by a considerable margin.)

Stars Wars: Episode 3: That last comment aside, I still really want to see this. Call me an optimist, but I'm going to go to this one. I'm just hoping Lucas rewards my faith.

I also need to find this film: It looks like either a great film for bad movie night, or a transcendent look into the minds of one of the greatest geniuses of the last century. Or both.


Well, that's all ones I can think of. If anyone can point my way to other interesting-looking films, please oblige.

hello again!

Well, I officially have net connection here again. This is a definite plus, for I was in grave danger of aquiring a social life without it. Not too much to post here, except a point of interest: this Friday, on CKUA on the Celtic Show, Captain Tractor is going to be playing some of the songs from the new album. It'll be on their webcast at 6 pm Alberta time or 7 pm real time.

I've kicked the habit.

Well, I never thought I'd get here, but I'm officially down to around 2 cups of coffee a day. That's down from 16 around finals, so I think its an improvement. It actually hasn't been as hard as I thought it would be. It just ended up that I drank less and less coffee all the time. (mind you, if I start work at a farm this year, that count's probably going to go up again. I know very few farmers who don't drink coffee in vast quantities.)