A thought I had while going over the Faces of Fear recording I did earlier today.
Why do each of the Faces of Fear act the way they do? Saren hears voices in her dreams that tell her to kill and mutilate people. Warrick is shunned, humiliated, and constantly mistreated by the woman he loves and follows her bidding in an attempt to win her affection. Radok is much like Warrick in that he idolizes Garrett and seeks to win his approval and recognition. But Garrett? He just likes killing people.
Garrett is not like a serial killer; he does not pick out a victim, fantasize about killing him, stalk him, and finally do the deed. He just likes getting into fights and killing people. That is why he became a soldier. That is why he became a mercenary. That is why he became an assassin. And the fact that sometimes his patrons did not want him to kill certain people is why he left even those jobs behind to join Saren's cult. Here, he basically has free reign to kill whomever he wishes (fortunately, he feels an odd, familial love for Saren and all but ignores Warrick, so he has no desire to kill his fellow Faces; I still do not know why he lets Radok live; probably likes to see the little guy struggle).
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Dwarves and Guns
I just wanted to jot down something that occurred to me while watching the opening minute of Sacred Blacksmith's second episode.
Dwarves in Trokair are rare on the surface. Those below ground have created guns. Gunpowder and explosives are indispensible but dangerous tools for mining and tunneling through rock. They can be used to great effect in setting traps (such as triggered cave-ins) but the dangers of collapse prevent greater use in the manner of concussive hand grenades (short-distance projectile/fragmentation grenades and "flash bang" grenades are suitable (a sudden, bright flash of light in the middle of pitch-black tunnels is a great way to dazzle one's foes)). Hence, guns were born. Their guns focus on spread and power (they would love shotguns) as opposed to distance and accuracy because they are used for tunnel fighting (where it is difficult to dodge and long-distance combat is rare).
One of the things that triggered this post was a line from the opening, "descend into the dark heavens." It is an unusual turn of phrase, as the heavens are almost universally considered to be skyward. I wondered if dwarves would think of things backwards, with their heaven beneath the earth and their hell on the surface (how horrific to be deprived of the welcoming embrace of stone and earth on all sides, to face this terrible empty void of the sky).
Then I remembered that the dwarves have guns ... and why they have guns. The depths of the earth spawn creatures twisted with evil and madness. Dark, inhuman creatures constantly bubble up from the darkness and seek to overwhelm the surface. The dwarves are the wall between us and destruction. That is why they have guns. And given that, there is no doubt that the dwarves do not consider the surface hell - hell lies somewhere far below even their subterranean kingdoms.
Dwarves in Trokair are rare on the surface. Those below ground have created guns. Gunpowder and explosives are indispensible but dangerous tools for mining and tunneling through rock. They can be used to great effect in setting traps (such as triggered cave-ins) but the dangers of collapse prevent greater use in the manner of concussive hand grenades (short-distance projectile/fragmentation grenades and "flash bang" grenades are suitable (a sudden, bright flash of light in the middle of pitch-black tunnels is a great way to dazzle one's foes)). Hence, guns were born. Their guns focus on spread and power (they would love shotguns) as opposed to distance and accuracy because they are used for tunnel fighting (where it is difficult to dodge and long-distance combat is rare).
One of the things that triggered this post was a line from the opening, "descend into the dark heavens." It is an unusual turn of phrase, as the heavens are almost universally considered to be skyward. I wondered if dwarves would think of things backwards, with their heaven beneath the earth and their hell on the surface (how horrific to be deprived of the welcoming embrace of stone and earth on all sides, to face this terrible empty void of the sky).
Then I remembered that the dwarves have guns ... and why they have guns. The depths of the earth spawn creatures twisted with evil and madness. Dark, inhuman creatures constantly bubble up from the darkness and seek to overwhelm the surface. The dwarves are the wall between us and destruction. That is why they have guns. And given that, there is no doubt that the dwarves do not consider the surface hell - hell lies somewhere far below even their subterranean kingdoms.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
City of Dimension
Creating Jack Dufresne has compelled me to describe, briefly, the City of Dimension. In trying to do so, I wrote that entire post about DJ Art.
The City of Dimension (which I perversely refuse to just call Dimension 90% of the time) was created to house DJ Art. I needed a world on this side of the supply room door to match the many and varied worlds on the other side. I suck at coming up with names for things so I somehow decided on The City of Dimension (I wanted the name to be cool but unusual and I feel that Dimension hits both those notes but it sucks that it came from DJ's name).
The City of Dimension appears completely normal and average. It is located somewhere in the middle of the US (by middle I just mean it is not a coastal city) and probably more south than north (as I grew up in Arizona and do not imagine snow very well, despite many visits to family in Buffalo, living through the President's Day Blizzard in New York City in 2003, and living in Erie, PA). It is not a very large city (like NYC or Boston or SanFran or Dallas) but it is not very small either (like Erie). The people there are happy and, while they deal with many of the same problems as the outside world, there is a feeling of continuity and isolation (a good kind of isolation, in that they need not worry too much about what happens in the outside world because it does not affect them).
The interesting thing about the City of Dimension, though, is that it is home to many unusual people. DJ Art, who finds himself transported to alternate realities through the back door of his art supply store, is a typical example. Jack Dufresne, who is not a natural person but a corporate entity of other people's consciousnesses given corporeal form, is another. Essentially, whereas Trokair is where I try to fit all of my fantasy creations in an attempt to tie them all into one cohesive whole, so Dimension is where I try to fit all my modern creations (the fantasy/modern duality comes from D&D and d20 Modern, two games using the same basic ruleset).
Dimension is home to my magical girl, a half dozen or so of my superhero characters, several of my real life friends from high school and college, my furutistic corporation, and more. The theme tying them all together is normal on the surface, weird underneath. For example, my friends work at a wine and liquor store in the city. Everything about the arrangement is perfectly normal except that no one will ever touch the mop in the corner and no one will ever mention why. And beyond the brief moment when it comes up, no one in the wider world ever acknowledges it. It is a city in which the weird and unusual happens constantly, but the world itself conspires to maintain a mundane atmosphere. It is not a city like NY in Men in Black where weird things happen and somehow you forget. Nor is it a city where a demon walking down the street does not seem unusual. It is, instead, a city where a demon walking down the street will miraculously avoid everyone's attention except that one guy who's plight it is to see demons.
I suppose I could have called it the City of Unbelievable Coincidence. No one tries to achieve widespread panic through the revelation of the supernatural forces at work in the city (there is no mad scientist who takes over the airwaves and demands ransom money or he will blow up the moon). Instead, everyone with these weird powers or occurences tries desperately to keep them under wraps and, overall, succeeds brilliantly. Most of the characters are associates and interact frequently. However, few know of each other's weirdness. For example, the girl who works in DJ's shop does not know he disappears into alternate dimensions and DJ does not know that she is a former member of the high school chess club from the year they all mysteriously gained super powers (she is Pawn and she can split into multiple copies of herself). Yet they work together every day and one or the other often has to cover for himself to avoid the other finding out about it.
I find it is best to just ignore that part. Assume that this stuff all stays hidden and focus on what each character does while exploring his own weirdness, rather than mixing weirdnesses together.
The City of Dimension (which I perversely refuse to just call Dimension 90% of the time) was created to house DJ Art. I needed a world on this side of the supply room door to match the many and varied worlds on the other side. I suck at coming up with names for things so I somehow decided on The City of Dimension (I wanted the name to be cool but unusual and I feel that Dimension hits both those notes but it sucks that it came from DJ's name).
The City of Dimension appears completely normal and average. It is located somewhere in the middle of the US (by middle I just mean it is not a coastal city) and probably more south than north (as I grew up in Arizona and do not imagine snow very well, despite many visits to family in Buffalo, living through the President's Day Blizzard in New York City in 2003, and living in Erie, PA). It is not a very large city (like NYC or Boston or SanFran or Dallas) but it is not very small either (like Erie). The people there are happy and, while they deal with many of the same problems as the outside world, there is a feeling of continuity and isolation (a good kind of isolation, in that they need not worry too much about what happens in the outside world because it does not affect them).
The interesting thing about the City of Dimension, though, is that it is home to many unusual people. DJ Art, who finds himself transported to alternate realities through the back door of his art supply store, is a typical example. Jack Dufresne, who is not a natural person but a corporate entity of other people's consciousnesses given corporeal form, is another. Essentially, whereas Trokair is where I try to fit all of my fantasy creations in an attempt to tie them all into one cohesive whole, so Dimension is where I try to fit all my modern creations (the fantasy/modern duality comes from D&D and d20 Modern, two games using the same basic ruleset).
Dimension is home to my magical girl, a half dozen or so of my superhero characters, several of my real life friends from high school and college, my furutistic corporation, and more. The theme tying them all together is normal on the surface, weird underneath. For example, my friends work at a wine and liquor store in the city. Everything about the arrangement is perfectly normal except that no one will ever touch the mop in the corner and no one will ever mention why. And beyond the brief moment when it comes up, no one in the wider world ever acknowledges it. It is a city in which the weird and unusual happens constantly, but the world itself conspires to maintain a mundane atmosphere. It is not a city like NY in Men in Black where weird things happen and somehow you forget. Nor is it a city where a demon walking down the street does not seem unusual. It is, instead, a city where a demon walking down the street will miraculously avoid everyone's attention except that one guy who's plight it is to see demons.
I suppose I could have called it the City of Unbelievable Coincidence. No one tries to achieve widespread panic through the revelation of the supernatural forces at work in the city (there is no mad scientist who takes over the airwaves and demands ransom money or he will blow up the moon). Instead, everyone with these weird powers or occurences tries desperately to keep them under wraps and, overall, succeeds brilliantly. Most of the characters are associates and interact frequently. However, few know of each other's weirdness. For example, the girl who works in DJ's shop does not know he disappears into alternate dimensions and DJ does not know that she is a former member of the high school chess club from the year they all mysteriously gained super powers (she is Pawn and she can split into multiple copies of herself). Yet they work together every day and one or the other often has to cover for himself to avoid the other finding out about it.
I find it is best to just ignore that part. Assume that this stuff all stays hidden and focus on what each character does while exploring his own weirdness, rather than mixing weirdnesses together.
City of Dimension - DJ Art
I created a character in late high school or early college named DJ Art. DJ was visually based on Vampire Hunter D (tall, slim, teenage girl boy-crush man-pretty, and with an awesome hat) but otherwise independent.
At that time, I had discovered the world of freeform message board roleplaying. My D&D group had broken up and I needed my RP fix. One board system in particular really drew me in: Venura. Venura consisted of a number of interrelated and completely independent roleplaying boards all housed under one convenient URL and utilizing one convenient log-in/account. By the time I arrived, many of the existing realms (each separate RP board was called a realm) were defunct, abandoned after months of use or isolation. Every few weeks I made a point of going down the list of realms to search for new arrivals. A few times, I also looked through the dead realms to see if there was anything of interest. One board was devoid of input except for a link to a Geocities or Angelfire webpage. On that page, there was a character submission form for the RP that would have taken place on Venura. The hook for the game was that no characters could have special powers, a wide departure from standard roleplaying (as the goal for many roleplayers is to explore something besides the mundane). The novelty of it struck me and I decided to envision such a character. Of course, being the rule-bending bastard that I was, I made DJ Art.
DJ Art stands for Dimension Jumper: Alternate Reality Timelines. DJ Art was an artist who owned a combination art supply store and gallery and probably taught a few art lessons on the side. He had no special powers. He married young but his wife died soon after (the reason was never established; perhaps it would be too cliche to say she died of complications during childbirth and the child also died, leaving him completely alone and burdened with a terrible loss that fueled his art for years to come; also, her name started with an L (Lenore, Laura, Lisa, Leanne, Lindsay?)).
One day, while closing up shop, he entered the back storeroom and found that beyond the doorway lied, instead of shelves of paints and paper and such, a vast, unending expanse of blackness. As he stared dumbfounded into the darkness, the doorway disappeared behind him. When his initial shock faded, he noticed a glowing light before him. A nonexistent spotlight shined down from the void and illuminated a small table standing on nothing.
(I always imagine the scene from Disney's Alice in Wonderland where she is walking the colored path and the broomdogthing sweeps it away; she sits down on a rock illuminated in the middle of a dark forest; when I was young, that forest was so dark on our VHS copy of Alice in Wonderland that it seemed like there was nothing in the background at all.)
The table was covered with a white linen cloth and a large lace doily. In the middle of the table stood a tall, thin crystal vase holding a single red rose. A mysterious voice entered his head (DJ had the distinct sense that the voice was not being heard by his ears) and told him that he needed to set right what was wrong. DJ questioned the voice, out loud (why not?), but to no avail. Moments later, he found himself standing the middle of a city park at dusk. Thus his first adventure began.
DJ is transported to various alternate realities and alternate timelines in this manner by the mysterious voice. Once there, he needs to figure out what is wrong and then fix it. He has to accomplish this with no special powers because he is just a normal human being. Once accomplished, he finds himself back in the void with the mysterious table and a wide open doorway. Sometimes, the doorway leads back to his store. Other times, it leads to another alternate reality. He eventually figured out that the table was the key to telling the difference. If it appears exactly as it did when he first entered the void, he is back home. If not, he is not. And it seems as though the further the table differs from that initial configuration, the further out of whack the alternate reality he enters.
One of my favorite stories with DJ is when he entered an AR (alternate reality) and saw a young woman who reminded him of his wife (and by reminded, I mean his wife and that girl were almost twins when it came to looks). He fell in love with her (which was very inappropriate, considering she was a teenager and he was in his 30s) but found out that what he needed to set right in this world was getting her to fall in love with another boy her age.
At that time, I had discovered the world of freeform message board roleplaying. My D&D group had broken up and I needed my RP fix. One board system in particular really drew me in: Venura. Venura consisted of a number of interrelated and completely independent roleplaying boards all housed under one convenient URL and utilizing one convenient log-in/account. By the time I arrived, many of the existing realms (each separate RP board was called a realm) were defunct, abandoned after months of use or isolation. Every few weeks I made a point of going down the list of realms to search for new arrivals. A few times, I also looked through the dead realms to see if there was anything of interest. One board was devoid of input except for a link to a Geocities or Angelfire webpage. On that page, there was a character submission form for the RP that would have taken place on Venura. The hook for the game was that no characters could have special powers, a wide departure from standard roleplaying (as the goal for many roleplayers is to explore something besides the mundane). The novelty of it struck me and I decided to envision such a character. Of course, being the rule-bending bastard that I was, I made DJ Art.
DJ Art stands for Dimension Jumper: Alternate Reality Timelines. DJ Art was an artist who owned a combination art supply store and gallery and probably taught a few art lessons on the side. He had no special powers. He married young but his wife died soon after (the reason was never established; perhaps it would be too cliche to say she died of complications during childbirth and the child also died, leaving him completely alone and burdened with a terrible loss that fueled his art for years to come; also, her name started with an L (Lenore, Laura, Lisa, Leanne, Lindsay?)).
One day, while closing up shop, he entered the back storeroom and found that beyond the doorway lied, instead of shelves of paints and paper and such, a vast, unending expanse of blackness. As he stared dumbfounded into the darkness, the doorway disappeared behind him. When his initial shock faded, he noticed a glowing light before him. A nonexistent spotlight shined down from the void and illuminated a small table standing on nothing.
(I always imagine the scene from Disney's Alice in Wonderland where she is walking the colored path and the broomdogthing sweeps it away; she sits down on a rock illuminated in the middle of a dark forest; when I was young, that forest was so dark on our VHS copy of Alice in Wonderland that it seemed like there was nothing in the background at all.)
The table was covered with a white linen cloth and a large lace doily. In the middle of the table stood a tall, thin crystal vase holding a single red rose. A mysterious voice entered his head (DJ had the distinct sense that the voice was not being heard by his ears) and told him that he needed to set right what was wrong. DJ questioned the voice, out loud (why not?), but to no avail. Moments later, he found himself standing the middle of a city park at dusk. Thus his first adventure began.
DJ is transported to various alternate realities and alternate timelines in this manner by the mysterious voice. Once there, he needs to figure out what is wrong and then fix it. He has to accomplish this with no special powers because he is just a normal human being. Once accomplished, he finds himself back in the void with the mysterious table and a wide open doorway. Sometimes, the doorway leads back to his store. Other times, it leads to another alternate reality. He eventually figured out that the table was the key to telling the difference. If it appears exactly as it did when he first entered the void, he is back home. If not, he is not. And it seems as though the further the table differs from that initial configuration, the further out of whack the alternate reality he enters.
One of my favorite stories with DJ is when he entered an AR (alternate reality) and saw a young woman who reminded him of his wife (and by reminded, I mean his wife and that girl were almost twins when it came to looks). He fell in love with her (which was very inappropriate, considering she was a teenager and he was in his 30s) but found out that what he needed to set right in this world was getting her to fall in love with another boy her age.
City of Dimension - Jack Dufresne
I was heading into Wegman's (an awesome grocery store in Buffalo and Erie) to get some bread and carrots when I thought about wielding a katana. I had taken kendo classes in college and I tried to remember the correct stance and technique for the various strikes. I thought about taking more kendo classes in the future and imagined showing up to class, telling sensei that I had taken kendo before, and then promptly assuming an incorrect stance. I further imagined that I would be vindicated by further practice as the lessons that had once sat rusty in the back of my brain received a good polish and demonstrated to sensei that I had taken classes before (I simply neglected any practice since then).
And that spurred the thought for the new character. I imagined someone who knew the basics of any job/skill but always appeared very out of practice. It would be obvious to anyone acquainted with that job that he was not a complete neophyte (there would be hints that he knew certain advanced details of a job) but he was not at the top of his game. With a little practice, however, he soon resumed his full competence.
This being the City of Dimension, such a man would need a weird origin for his ability. I decided he would be a corporate being, the collective consciousnesses of multiple people throughout space (and maybe time) given corporeal form. He possessed the knowledge and skills of all these people but it took some time and effort to bring about full access and familiarity (he would, in essence, need to strengthen the established bond to a particular consciousness until the skill operated as his own). He would be a drifter or a homeless man, wandering the streets of Dimension and finding work wherever he could. By choice or by fate, he is drawn to temporary jobs; in those cases where he is offered a full-time position, he inevitably abandons the post after a short time. It is not in his nature to be tied down or adopt a routine existence.
He needed a name. The name that kept popping into my mind was Jack. It was not a deliberate play on jack-of-all-trades but it may well have been a subconscious motivation. For a last name, I somehow came to Dufresne (do'-frayn). He is gritty, hard-worn, probably smokes, often has a mean case of stubble (rarely a beard), and somehow keeps his light brown or blonde hair cut short. He has brown eyes (or blue or green, if blonde).
Obviously there needs to be a yet greater secret about Jack Dufresne. A corporate entity like himself must exist for a reason, whether to accomplish something (like, for an example off the top of my head, the consciousnesses which compose him come from victims of some immortal supernatural creature and he has to solve the mystery of their deaths and remove the dopplegangers that exist in their place) or as a result of something else being accomplished (like, for another example off the top of my head, a supernatural EMP ripping parts of the souls from people and them coalescing into this new being who must find his own purpose in life but might also want to investigate that EMP).
And that spurred the thought for the new character. I imagined someone who knew the basics of any job/skill but always appeared very out of practice. It would be obvious to anyone acquainted with that job that he was not a complete neophyte (there would be hints that he knew certain advanced details of a job) but he was not at the top of his game. With a little practice, however, he soon resumed his full competence.
This being the City of Dimension, such a man would need a weird origin for his ability. I decided he would be a corporate being, the collective consciousnesses of multiple people throughout space (and maybe time) given corporeal form. He possessed the knowledge and skills of all these people but it took some time and effort to bring about full access and familiarity (he would, in essence, need to strengthen the established bond to a particular consciousness until the skill operated as his own). He would be a drifter or a homeless man, wandering the streets of Dimension and finding work wherever he could. By choice or by fate, he is drawn to temporary jobs; in those cases where he is offered a full-time position, he inevitably abandons the post after a short time. It is not in his nature to be tied down or adopt a routine existence.
He needed a name. The name that kept popping into my mind was Jack. It was not a deliberate play on jack-of-all-trades but it may well have been a subconscious motivation. For a last name, I somehow came to Dufresne (do'-frayn). He is gritty, hard-worn, probably smokes, often has a mean case of stubble (rarely a beard), and somehow keeps his light brown or blonde hair cut short. He has brown eyes (or blue or green, if blonde).
Obviously there needs to be a yet greater secret about Jack Dufresne. A corporate entity like himself must exist for a reason, whether to accomplish something (like, for an example off the top of my head, the consciousnesses which compose him come from victims of some immortal supernatural creature and he has to solve the mystery of their deaths and remove the dopplegangers that exist in their place) or as a result of something else being accomplished (like, for another example off the top of my head, a supernatural EMP ripping parts of the souls from people and them coalescing into this new being who must find his own purpose in life but might also want to investigate that EMP).
Monday, June 14, 2010
Awesome Journal Articles
Affect, culture, and morality, or is it wrong to eat your dog?
Haidt J, Koller SH, Dias MG.
J Pers Soc Psychol. 1993 Oct;65(4):613-28.
Are disgusting or disrespectful actions judged to be moral violations, even when they are harmless? Stories about victimless yet offensive actions (such as cleaning one's toilet with a flag) were presented to Brazilian and U.S. adults and children of high and low socioeconomic status (N = 360). Results show that college students at elite universities judged these stories to be matters of social convention or of personal preference. Most other Ss, especially in Brazil, took a moralizing stance toward these actions. For these latter Ss, moral judgments were better predicted by affective reactions than by appraisals of harmfulness. Results support the claims of cultural psychology (R.A. Shweder, 1991a) and suggest that cultural norms and culturally shaped emotions have a substantial impact on the domain of morality and the process of moral judgment. Suggestions are made for building cross-culturally valid models of moral judgment.
-------------------------------------
Parachute use to prevent death and major trauma related to gravitational challenge: systematic review of randomised controlled trials -- Smith and Pell 327 (7429): 1459 -- from the British Medical Journal.
Objectives To determine whether parachutes are effective in preventing major trauma related to gravitational challenge. Design Systematic review of randomised controlled trials. Data sources: Medline, Web of Science, Embase, and the Cochrane Library databases; appropriate internet sites and citation lists. Study selection: Studies showing the effects of using a parachute during free fall. Main outcome measure Death or major trauma, defined as an injury severity score = 15. Results We were unable to identify any randomised controlled trials of parachute intervention. Conclusions As with many interventions intended to prevent ill health, the effectiveness of parachutes has not been subjected to rigorous evaluation by using randomised controlled trials. Advocates of evidence based medicine have criticised the adoption of interventions evaluated by using only observational data. We think that everyone might benefit if the most radical protagonists of evidence based medicine organised and participated in a double blind, randomised, placebo controlled, crossover trial of the parachute.
-----------------------------
Exorcism-resistant ghost possession treated with clopenthixol.
Hale AS, Pinninti NR.
Br J Psychiatry. 1994 Sep;165(3):386-8.
------------------------------
Consequences of erudite vernacular utilized irrespective of necessity: Problems with using long words needlessly. DM Oppenheimer - Applied Cognitive Psychology, 2006
------------------------------
Lysergic Acid Diethylamide: Its Effects on a Male Asiatic Elephant
This was published in SCIENCE! (albeit in 1962)
------------------------------
Pair of lice lost or parasites regained: the evolutionary history of anthropoid primate lice.
Reed DL, Light JE, Allen JM, Kirchman JJ.
BMC Biol. 2007 Mar 7;5:7.
------------------------------
An Analysis of the Forces Required to Drag Sheep Over Various Surfaces.
HARVEY J. T. ; CULVENOR J. ; PAYNE W. ; COWLEY S. ; LAWRANCE M. ; STUART D. ; WILLIAMS R.
Applied Ergonomics, vol. 33, pp 523-531.
------------------------------
Haidt J, Koller SH, Dias MG.
J Pers Soc Psychol. 1993 Oct;65(4):613-28.
Are disgusting or disrespectful actions judged to be moral violations, even when they are harmless? Stories about victimless yet offensive actions (such as cleaning one's toilet with a flag) were presented to Brazilian and U.S. adults and children of high and low socioeconomic status (N = 360). Results show that college students at elite universities judged these stories to be matters of social convention or of personal preference. Most other Ss, especially in Brazil, took a moralizing stance toward these actions. For these latter Ss, moral judgments were better predicted by affective reactions than by appraisals of harmfulness. Results support the claims of cultural psychology (R.A. Shweder, 1991a) and suggest that cultural norms and culturally shaped emotions have a substantial impact on the domain of morality and the process of moral judgment. Suggestions are made for building cross-culturally valid models of moral judgment.
-------------------------------------
Parachute use to prevent death and major trauma related to gravitational challenge: systematic review of randomised controlled trials -- Smith and Pell 327 (7429): 1459 -- from the British Medical Journal.
Objectives To determine whether parachutes are effective in preventing major trauma related to gravitational challenge. Design Systematic review of randomised controlled trials. Data sources: Medline, Web of Science, Embase, and the Cochrane Library databases; appropriate internet sites and citation lists. Study selection: Studies showing the effects of using a parachute during free fall. Main outcome measure Death or major trauma, defined as an injury severity score = 15. Results We were unable to identify any randomised controlled trials of parachute intervention. Conclusions As with many interventions intended to prevent ill health, the effectiveness of parachutes has not been subjected to rigorous evaluation by using randomised controlled trials. Advocates of evidence based medicine have criticised the adoption of interventions evaluated by using only observational data. We think that everyone might benefit if the most radical protagonists of evidence based medicine organised and participated in a double blind, randomised, placebo controlled, crossover trial of the parachute.
-----------------------------
Exorcism-resistant ghost possession treated with clopenthixol.
Hale AS, Pinninti NR.
Br J Psychiatry. 1994 Sep;165(3):386-8.
------------------------------
Consequences of erudite vernacular utilized irrespective of necessity: Problems with using long words needlessly. DM Oppenheimer - Applied Cognitive Psychology, 2006
------------------------------
Lysergic Acid Diethylamide: Its Effects on a Male Asiatic Elephant
This was published in SCIENCE! (albeit in 1962)
------------------------------
Pair of lice lost or parasites regained: the evolutionary history of anthropoid primate lice.
Reed DL, Light JE, Allen JM, Kirchman JJ.
BMC Biol. 2007 Mar 7;5:7.
------------------------------
An Analysis of the Forces Required to Drag Sheep Over Various Surfaces.
HARVEY J. T. ; CULVENOR J. ; PAYNE W. ; COWLEY S. ; LAWRANCE M. ; STUART D. ; WILLIAMS R.
Applied Ergonomics, vol. 33, pp 523-531.
------------------------------
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
The Gods Must Be Crazy
I had this idea while going to the bathroom. That rarely happens. Usually, I get an idea and I flesh it out in the bathroom (most often the shower, not the toilet).
The idea is a world where the gods are active. And by active, I mean they issue proclamations and change the very laws of existence on a weekly or monthly or yearly basis.
I just woke up a little while ago so my memory has not fully booted but I do not remember a campaign setting where the gods are as explicitly active as this. Even in a setting like Forgotten Realms, the gods are mostly active behind the scenes in games (they are main characters in books but not often in games, unless the PCs are gods). And the few other instances I remember of active gods in RPGs usually sequesters them away as highly secretive or isolated.
While the campaign does not necessarily have to go this way, one easily derived storyline is to increase the capriciousness of the gods and the PCs must do the impossible to stop them - deicide.
In a less us-vs-them campaign, the PCs would have the option to directly petition their god to change physical laws to their benefit. In this case, there would have to be a limit on the power of the gods to maintain balance.
The idea is a world where the gods are active. And by active, I mean they issue proclamations and change the very laws of existence on a weekly or monthly or yearly basis.
I just woke up a little while ago so my memory has not fully booted but I do not remember a campaign setting where the gods are as explicitly active as this. Even in a setting like Forgotten Realms, the gods are mostly active behind the scenes in games (they are main characters in books but not often in games, unless the PCs are gods). And the few other instances I remember of active gods in RPGs usually sequesters them away as highly secretive or isolated.
While the campaign does not necessarily have to go this way, one easily derived storyline is to increase the capriciousness of the gods and the PCs must do the impossible to stop them - deicide.
In a less us-vs-them campaign, the PCs would have the option to directly petition their god to change physical laws to their benefit. In this case, there would have to be a limit on the power of the gods to maintain balance.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Young Me, Now Me
This is a cool website linked from Fark today. It displays two pictures side-by-side; on the left is a picture of "young me" (an old picture from when someone was a child) and on the right is a picture of "now me" (a current picture, often duplicating aspects of the young me photo such as clothing, position, location, facial expression, etc.).
And then there is this guy:
http://www.zefrank.com/youngmenowme/permalink.html?437
And then there is this guy:
http://www.zefrank.com/youngmenowme/permalink.html?437
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Prayer before Sex
An article I read months ago but wanted to transfer here in case it goes offline.
______________________________
Roman Catholic couples are being encouraged to pray together before they have sex.
A book published by a prominent Church group invites those setting out on married life to recite the specially-composed Prayer Before Making Love.
It is aimed at 'purifying their intentions' so that the act is not about selfishness or hedonism.
The prayer, which appears in the Prayer Book for Spouses, implores God 'to place within us love that truly gives, tenderness that truly unites, self-offering that tells the truth and does not deceive, forgiveness that truly receives, loving physical union that welcomes'.
It adds: 'Open our hearts to you, to each other and to the goodness of your will.
'Cover our poverty in the richness of your mercy and forgiveness. Clothe us in true dignity and take to yourself our shared aspirations, for your glory, for ever and ever.'
The 64-page book has been published by the London-based Catholic Truth Society.
The group has close links to the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales.
The Rt Rev Paul Hendricks, who is the Auxiliary Bishop of Southwark and sits on the charity's board, said he thought the prayer's inclusion was 'brave but good'.
'I suppose it is a bit idealistic but it is recognising that God is at the heart of the marriage relationship between husband and wife,' he said.
'It is important for the Church to affirm the value of marriage and family life and I suppose this is a particular way of doing that.'
'Perhaps it is something that has not been tried, certainly for a while - I can't remember seeing something like that before.'
The book contains prayers for every stage of marriage and family life, including engagement, planning for parenthood, pregnancy and caring for children and elderly parents.
The prayers, written by a variety of authors, are interspersed with Catholic teaching on the meaning of marriage and family.
The book pushes the message that marriage should be exclusive and life-long and condemns abortion.
It criticises 'those who, in our times, consider it too difficult, or indeed impossible, to be bound to one person for the whole of life, and those caught up in a culture that rejects the indissolubility of marriage and openly mocks the commitment of spouses to fidelity'.
It adds: 'It is a fundamental duty of the Church to reaffirm strongly the doctrine of the indissolubility of marriage.'
______________________________
Roman Catholic couples are being encouraged to pray together before they have sex.
A book published by a prominent Church group invites those setting out on married life to recite the specially-composed Prayer Before Making Love.
It is aimed at 'purifying their intentions' so that the act is not about selfishness or hedonism.
The prayer, which appears in the Prayer Book for Spouses, implores God 'to place within us love that truly gives, tenderness that truly unites, self-offering that tells the truth and does not deceive, forgiveness that truly receives, loving physical union that welcomes'.
It adds: 'Open our hearts to you, to each other and to the goodness of your will.
'Cover our poverty in the richness of your mercy and forgiveness. Clothe us in true dignity and take to yourself our shared aspirations, for your glory, for ever and ever.'
The 64-page book has been published by the London-based Catholic Truth Society.
The group has close links to the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales.
The Rt Rev Paul Hendricks, who is the Auxiliary Bishop of Southwark and sits on the charity's board, said he thought the prayer's inclusion was 'brave but good'.
'I suppose it is a bit idealistic but it is recognising that God is at the heart of the marriage relationship between husband and wife,' he said.
'It is important for the Church to affirm the value of marriage and family life and I suppose this is a particular way of doing that.'
'Perhaps it is something that has not been tried, certainly for a while - I can't remember seeing something like that before.'
The book contains prayers for every stage of marriage and family life, including engagement, planning for parenthood, pregnancy and caring for children and elderly parents.
The prayers, written by a variety of authors, are interspersed with Catholic teaching on the meaning of marriage and family.
The book pushes the message that marriage should be exclusive and life-long and condemns abortion.
It criticises 'those who, in our times, consider it too difficult, or indeed impossible, to be bound to one person for the whole of life, and those caught up in a culture that rejects the indissolubility of marriage and openly mocks the commitment of spouses to fidelity'.
It adds: 'It is a fundamental duty of the Church to reaffirm strongly the doctrine of the indissolubility of marriage.'
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Zora and the Fire
This comes from a play-by-post game I am playing. My character is Zora-Kai, a watersoul genasi; Connor is a warlock. We are fighting goblins in a bar and the goblins have set the place on fire. Connor is looking for a bucket and water while the rest of us fight. I mentioned that I used Zora's swiftcurrent power before they started the fire, otherwise I would be putting the fire out with my butt (meaning my bottom half would turn to water and douse the flames as I moved over them). He got a different mental picture.
_________________
That would be kind of funny. In my head it plays out something like:
Zora-Kai starts wrestling with the bindings of her pants. Then pauses and looks up at the rest of the group.
"It's not like you think, OK? I just need my butt out."
Pause.
"I mean I have a wet butt."
Facepalms.
"I mean I need to stick my butt in the fire."
Sighs and covers eyes with her hand.
"You know what, the Warlock can put the damn fire out. I'm gonna keep killing people."
_________________
That would be kind of funny. In my head it plays out something like:
Zora-Kai starts wrestling with the bindings of her pants. Then pauses and looks up at the rest of the group.
"It's not like you think, OK? I just need my butt out."
Pause.
"I mean I have a wet butt."
Facepalms.
"I mean I need to stick my butt in the fire."
Sighs and covers eyes with her hand.
"You know what, the Warlock can put the damn fire out. I'm gonna keep killing people."
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Mega Man Villains Idea
I was watching a playthrough of Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X (a PSP remake of Mega Man X) and I noticed that Boomer Kuwanger changes his attack pattern when you use the Homing Missile compared to the Mega Buster (I always used Homing Missiles against him so I never knew he had a different attack pattern).
How about a Mega Man game where each robot master is susceptible to two other masters' weapons. One weapon causes more damage while the other weapon alters the attack pattern to make it easier to defeat. If you then make each robot master's attack pattern difficult to dodge, players have an incentive to use either weapon (more damage to kill it quicker or easier attack pattern to survive longer).
How about a Mega Man game where each robot master is susceptible to two other masters' weapons. One weapon causes more damage while the other weapon alters the attack pattern to make it easier to defeat. If you then make each robot master's attack pattern difficult to dodge, players have an incentive to use either weapon (more damage to kill it quicker or easier attack pattern to survive longer).
Saturday, February 20, 2010
American Education System as a Game
I had this thought while reading dok's blog but I figure it was tangential to the main point of his post and figured it would be better to post here than as a comment there:
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When I was in school, my school district decided to split the players into three leagues. The bulk of students remained in regular classes while those who struggled were put into remedial classes and those who excelled were put into accelerated classes.
This started as early as 2nd grade when students were bused from several neighboring schools to form a single class once or twice a week. At the junior high and high school levels, when these students all fed into the same school, they comprised whole classes along the accelerated learning tracks.
I remember hearing that someone was challenging the school district's ability to separate gifted students out of normal classrooms at the elementary level when I left for college but I see that the program is still up and running (and actually expanded).
--------------
When I was in school, my school district decided to split the players into three leagues. The bulk of students remained in regular classes while those who struggled were put into remedial classes and those who excelled were put into accelerated classes.
This started as early as 2nd grade when students were bused from several neighboring schools to form a single class once or twice a week. At the junior high and high school levels, when these students all fed into the same school, they comprised whole classes along the accelerated learning tracks.
I remember hearing that someone was challenging the school district's ability to separate gifted students out of normal classrooms at the elementary level when I left for college but I see that the program is still up and running (and actually expanded).
Monday, February 15, 2010
Mapping Trokair - Issues
I have been trying to mentally map out Trokair's world on three scales - global, continental, and local.
Global and local have not been much of a problem. I know where Dhezhan, Rackthilde, and Trokair are located relative to each other. I also know where the ruins of Trokair lie relative to the mountains, forest, road, and nearby cities.
Continental, on the other hand, is giving me a lot of issues. Based on my feelings, the Black Duchy lies to the west (and a bit north) and has a mountainous northern and eastern border; Aelonia to the north (and a bit east) and has a mountainous northern border and an open border with the Free Cities (to admit refugees); the Free City Region has a coast along its eastern border (for Wyndhaven) and mountains along its northern (for Trokair); barbarians and orcs inhabit the mountains and lands beyond north of Trokair.
What I really want to do is find a semi-suitable map and then fit the countries into amenable positions. It caters to the "random background generator" character creation I love so much.
Global and local have not been much of a problem. I know where Dhezhan, Rackthilde, and Trokair are located relative to each other. I also know where the ruins of Trokair lie relative to the mountains, forest, road, and nearby cities.
Continental, on the other hand, is giving me a lot of issues. Based on my feelings, the Black Duchy lies to the west (and a bit north) and has a mountainous northern and eastern border; Aelonia to the north (and a bit east) and has a mountainous northern border and an open border with the Free Cities (to admit refugees); the Free City Region has a coast along its eastern border (for Wyndhaven) and mountains along its northern (for Trokair); barbarians and orcs inhabit the mountains and lands beyond north of Trokair.
What I really want to do is find a semi-suitable map and then fit the countries into amenable positions. It caters to the "random background generator" character creation I love so much.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Regional Airline Dream
I just woke up from a fitful sleep. Usually, when I have an involved dream and I wake up long enough to toss or turn, I cannot go back to the same dream but only a version of it. As an example, and related, in a way, to my current dream, I once dreamed of flying on a better-than-first-class jet (very spacious, very special; like flying in Air Force One). After I woke up and turned over, I dreamed of working at the airports where that jet lands (one was a vastly over-sized school basketball court covered in fall leaves; another was a huge metropolitan airport that looked like a whole side of the building had collapsed or been blown apart but everyone just hopped over the gaping holes or drove around the rubble like it was nothing).
My dream last night was about a small regional airline. By airline, I mean to say that this company had one small jet. They flew a few short routes during the week and on the weekends, they took chartered flights. This is not very interesting because I cannot remember the "hook". All of the employees of this small company were outcasts in some way (the same way), similar in feel to a marginalized religious sect. That lent a strong bond to the whole business. I wish I could remember but that was the first nebulous bit of the dream to flee my brain upon waking.
My dream last night was about a small regional airline. By airline, I mean to say that this company had one small jet. They flew a few short routes during the week and on the weekends, they took chartered flights. This is not very interesting because I cannot remember the "hook". All of the employees of this small company were outcasts in some way (the same way), similar in feel to a marginalized religious sect. That lent a strong bond to the whole business. I wish I could remember but that was the first nebulous bit of the dream to flee my brain upon waking.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Spectral Directions - Color in Motion
I just watched a TEDTalk video about Tom Shannon, an artist with Parkinson's disease who creates paintings using a big pendulum to squirt paint onto a canvas on the ground (the motion of the pendulum can be wholly contained within the canvas or, more commonly, sweep widely beyond the canvas). He started in the 1970s with a pendulum and a single color of paint. The paint flowed freely and he had real trouble refilling it while it stayed in motion. He now has a pendulum with six or eight colors whose release is remote controlled (mechanical clips hold the rubber nozzles shut and he can control how far each one opens at any given time).
It was at the moment he mentioned he wanted a pendulum with six colors that an idea hit me. I would like to see a painting, sculpture, or animation that utilized the primary colors across the three planes of our dimension. In animation, for example, you would follow a flowing line like a dribble of paint as it flowed across a rough surface. The color of the line would vary based on its current vector, with correspondingly greater amounts of blue, red, or yellow as it headed further into the x, y, or z planes.
Or, to put it another way, imagine a black dot in the middle of an empty white universe. If the dot moved left, it would leave a blue streak. If it moved up, it would leave a red streak. If it moved away from you, it would leave a yellow streak (but you would only see it as a dot). If, while moving left, it then turned in a shallow curve upwards, you would see the blue streak slowly turn purple then red as it flowed through the curve and moved upwards. If it then moved away from you while still going up, you would see an orange line (red + yellow).
It was at the moment he mentioned he wanted a pendulum with six colors that an idea hit me. I would like to see a painting, sculpture, or animation that utilized the primary colors across the three planes of our dimension. In animation, for example, you would follow a flowing line like a dribble of paint as it flowed across a rough surface. The color of the line would vary based on its current vector, with correspondingly greater amounts of blue, red, or yellow as it headed further into the x, y, or z planes.
Or, to put it another way, imagine a black dot in the middle of an empty white universe. If the dot moved left, it would leave a blue streak. If it moved up, it would leave a red streak. If it moved away from you, it would leave a yellow streak (but you would only see it as a dot). If, while moving left, it then turned in a shallow curve upwards, you would see the blue streak slowly turn purple then red as it flowed through the curve and moved upwards. If it then moved away from you while still going up, you would see an orange line (red + yellow).
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