This time to DragonCon, in Atlanta, GA. I’m gonna go get my geek on, play some games, run some tournaments, grab some schwag, sell some cards. More as I’m there and when I return.
Categories
Month: August 2006
Categories
Valleyschwag 4
More Valleyschwag! This month wasn’t as good as last month, but the shirt is nice. I’m not sure wtf the mini beach chair is good for…holding my cell phone? The stickers are interesting, as always, and I got a bottle opener. But it does seem a bit small, comparatively…of course, Valleyschwag is undergoing some serious growing pains. I’m willing to give them a few months to work it out.
I’m also not sold on Perplexcity…I’m a gamer, and love games of all sorts, but I’m just not sure how to take such a massively distributed puzzle. Seems like more work than fun to me.
Categories
I am not a terrorist
Read the story. Buy the shirt. This is getting utterly ridiculous.
Reminds me of the printable felony I produced for BoingBoing awhile back. I will definitely be buying one of these.
…it is stranger than you can imagine. And this is never more true than on this wacky series of tubes we call the Interweb.
Exhibit One: I give you….Otherkin.
Otherkin is a subculture made up of people who describe themselves as being non-human or having a connection to a mythical archetype in some way, usually believing themselves to be mythological or legendary creatures. The word is a neologism primarily used by members of that subculture, and is somewhat fluid in definition, and in its broadest sense includes those who consider themselves to be animals, aliens, extradimensional beings, and any other non-human entities.
These are people who believe that they are dragons, werewolves, and elves.
Yes, really.
No, I’m not joking.
You want even wackier? Ok…you asked for it: Otakin!
A sort of crossbreed between fans of anime and otherkin, Otakin believe that they are actually the reincarnation of an anime (or occasionally game) character and that the worlds depicted in popular animes such as evangelion and games like final fantasy exist in another dimension. Unlike their otherkin counterparts, otakin are relatively rare and tend to limit their activities to obscure message boards and livejournal communities. >>from the Urban Dictionary
Otakin (sometimes Otakukin) believe that they have the souls of fictional characters, usually from Japanese anime. Let me say this again, slowly: They believe that they contain within them the souls of cartoon characters.
*boggle*
The obvious question seems to be: Why those particular sets of things? That is, why is there a group of people who believe they have within them the soul of elves, but not, oh…trolls? Or Goblins? Why are Otakin just anime based, and there’s no one running around believing they are the “reincarnated” soul of Woody Woodpecker? I’m not saying this is any more rational than believing, oh…that there’s an invisible man in the sky who watches everything I do…but on the “weird” meter, this one goes to 11.
Oh, and just for you, dear readers…one last special site that involves both dragons AND invisible men in the sky.
Categories
Zuca
While this blog isn’t a gadget-blog, I wanted to sing the praises of a recent purchase that might come in handy for both the gamers and librarians (and gaming librarians) who might read this.
At the Origins Game Fair this year I purchased a Zuca. What’s a Zuca? It’s a rolling bag of many things…
This is the best rolling bag I’ve ever seen. It has great organization inside, with pockets and a large open area for books/computer/folders/body parts…whatever you need to haul around. The thing feels indestructible, has inline skate wheels with frictionless bearings and will go anywhere and has a nearly zero turn radius. The frame allows you to use it as a seat or table for those crowded airports or in the library, and since it’s aluminum it doesn’t actually add much weight to the product. It’s still very carryable when needed. It also comes in about a million colors/styles.
The only complaint I have about the bag is that it connects to the frame at all of the sides, but not the top, so when you use the handy mesh hammock in the inside top of the bag to hold change and such, it pulls the top down when you roll the bag. It’s a terribly minor thing in an otherwise remarkably well-designed product, and doesn’t effect the use of the bag at all. There was some issue with it fitting in a few of the overheads of the smaller airplanes I was on this summer, but in every case there was a solution (once it was checked by the crew, and once I stowed it under the empty seat beside me). It fit in the larger planes just fine.
For those of us who carry a lot of books and electronics when travelling (and who doesn’t anymore…) this is a really well made solution. If you see me at a convention, I’ll probably be wheeling this along behind me.
Categories
Hot Library Action
From The Nonist, some Hot Library Smut:
Yesterday I came across a truly gorgeous book of photographs by Candida HĂƒÂ¶fer titled, Libraries, a title which pretty much says it all, because that is just exactly what it is, one rich, sumptuous, photo of a library interior after another. ItĂ¢â‚¬â„¢s like porn for book nerds. Seriously. They are gorgeous photos, nearly all without visitors and just begging to be entered. (ha. sorry.)
And boy are they some pretty pics:
If you want your very own library porn, you can order it from the publisher.
Categories
Sweet mother of jeebus!
I have no words.
It’s like some demented genius said “Now if only there was a foodstuff that was both easily portable and contained bacon and Tang…”
Categories
Day of the Dead
photo credit : Scott Beale / Laughing Squid @ laughingsquid.com.
Yet another zombie mob scene in San Fransisco this past week.
Is it a coincidence that I’m blogging this today, on the first day of classes? đŸ˜‰
Categories
WPOpac
Wow…I’m a little late to the party, but this has such potential I thought I needed to blog it. Casey Bisson has done some amazing integration work to combine his OPAC with a WordPress blog. I’m still playing with features, but it seems like an amazing tool for refining search. Plus, it’s just a mind-freakingly difficult thing to pull off…most OPAC’s don’t play well with others. I’m completely impressed that it even works…this is like convincing Microsoft Word to integrate with iTunes. Huge props to Corey for making this work.
Categories
Voight-Kampff
from boingboing:
The Wall Street Journal has an article about a blood pressure, pulse, and sweat level measuring device being tested in US airport security checkpoints. It’s made by an Israeli Company with the delightful name of Suspect Detection Systems Ltd.
…
If they really want to use this to find terrorists, they’re going to have to test every single person that gets on a plane. According to the TSA, two million people fly everyday. That’s 730 million people a year. Let’s assume that 10 of them are terrorists. With a 4% false-positive rate and a 10% false-negative rate, that means 29 million innocent travelers are going to be detained as suspects, and one out of the 10 terrorists will still make it through security to conduct his or her dirty work. Is it worth it, or would the money be better spent preventing terrorism through intelligence work?
Reading this, I fully expect to sit down in one of these and have it tell me “Describe in single words only the good things that come into your mind about… your mother.” Is there any point which is too far for the US public? Even with the leading security experts in the world telling us these things do no good, we still allow ourselves to be placated with meaningless tribulations which do not catch terrorists. WTF?