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An arrogant, ill old gamer and washed-up academic posting at infrequent intervals about role playing, sport, politics, international conflict, terrorism and sarcasm.
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May. 3rd, 2012 @ 11:20 pm Update and elections
Set for a record low turnout for the local elections in Scotland... and given the choice we had in my own ward, I can't say that I'm surprised. The 3 candidates with the most votes will get seats...

...and we had 4 candidates in total. Two of them from the same party.

At least we're not - quite - at the stage of every candidate who stands being guaranteed to get voted in, but...


Rather to my surprise, I've been asked to provide an update on myself here.

I'm still really rather ill, but am on a minor upturn after a rather cruddy few months.  I overtaxed myself at the weekend, when I made it to my first tabletop game in who knows how long, but I'm hoping to be fit to do something similar again on Saturday.

We utterly failed to move home last year (as we'd hoped to), and have set ourselves a deadline for getting the house on the market this year, almost regardless of the state it's in.  ;)

There are a few options for quite what we do with the house, and we're short of what we'd like to have when looking at buying somewhere in Edinburgh, but we should be able to move 20-odd miles closer to Janet's work, reduce my isolation, and get more space.

Not living next door to a youngster practicing to be a drummer and backing singer for a metal band would also be very welcome.  ;)
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Mar. 1st, 2012 @ 11:21 am Frank the Goat vs the Kremlin
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17177053

It seemed appropriate to post this here. ;)


On myself: seriously woozy, with a particularly 'fun' past few weeks.  Still hoping to somehow find the energy to fix up the house and get it sold, so that we can move to somewhere that doesn't involve two hours of travel to get to and from any appointment (social or otherwise).

Currently enjoying working through Farscape, while trying to get exercise and lose weight: the joys of an exercise bike.  I can hide indoors away from the outside world with all its nasty brain-swirling motion and noise.
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Oct. 20th, 2011 @ 10:55 am Tracing Books & Owners
Current Mood: exhaustedexhausted
Current Music: 3rd ODI vs India
Cross-posted to a couple of places, in hopes of tracking down as many as possible.

The following's a short list of books that have been lent to me or lent out by me.  I'm keen to identify any I've forgotten about, and confirm
the whereabouts of those that have gone from here.  If you're aware ofthe location of one, let me know.  If you'd like one returned, also give
me a kick please.  If I've misattributed ownership of one I have, please tell me too. :)

To me:
The Sea Watch (Shadows of the Apt 6): Mr Odie
The King's Bastard: Mr Odie
The Three Musketeers: Mr Wurr
The Man in the Iron Mask: Mr Wurr
Carthians: Mr Collins
Mekhet: Mr Collins

From me:
Apocrypha Now: to Mr Mulliner?
Apocrypha II: Chart of Darkness: to Mr Mulliner?
Problems in the Social Sciences: to Mr Clark
The Power and the Glory: ?
God of Battles: ?
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Dec. 10th, 2010 @ 05:46 pm Absent, with leave
Heading South for a week to attend a family gathering of the in-laws.

I confess to being somewhat puzzled that the main event has been arranged for noon on Saturday, explicitly to suit the working schedules of people who live rather less than a couple of hundred miles away.  ;)

As a result, we're heading part-way tonight, then attempting to do the remainder tomorrow morning in time to arrive for lunch.  Snow, post-viral fatigue, etc permitting....

We'll hopefully be back in a week's time.
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Jul. 21st, 2010 @ 04:11 pm Oh, marvellous - my balance is fine!
Current Mood: enragedFurious
Great news.  According to today's specialist (seen for the first time), because scans show nothing wrong that can be surgically altered, I must be physically fine and there was no reason at all for his predecessor (the head of department, till he retired) to have been seeing me.

Therefore I'm insane instead of physically ill, and he recommends seeking psychiatric assistance.

If someone can find an insanity that destroys your sense of balance and has you constantly nauseous and dizzy, I will gladly seek treatment for it.

Till then, I shall be idly plotting the demise of idiot medics who want to cross names off their roster of patients.

Apologies if I am in a vile mood for the foreseeable future.  This idiot could cost me access to the drugs that permit me to do anything with any reliability at all.
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Mar. 25th, 2010 @ 01:59 pm Wow
Current Mood: impressedimpressed
This (and the rest of the extensive gallery) is worth a look: what would you be able to do with a sat-nav, a helium balloon, a digital camera, a polystyrene box and a parachute?  One inventively mad Brit used that ensemble to capture low-Earth orbit photographs that had NASA calling up to check if he was some previously-unknown rival in the space race....
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Mar. 23rd, 2010 @ 02:28 pm Thank goodness
The Anglo Saxon hoard discovered in Staffordshire is not set to be sold off and lost to the public....

See here for more.
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Feb. 2nd, 2010 @ 07:12 pm Braaaaaaaaains
I have now returned from my eight-day trip to Ireland.

I am bloomin' shattered and fully expect to keel over for some time.

We do, however, have a number of additions to our boardgames collection, acquired on the cheap (thanks to the fortuitous convergence of convention prices, the Euro-Pound exchange rate, and a "moustache discount" offered by one vendor).

As a result, we now have brand new copies of Axis and Allies, Talisman (4th edition - I didn't even notice 2nd and 3rd!), Race for the Stars (with two expansions), and Stoner Flux....

And, at least in my case, a dire need for sleep and brains.....
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Dec. 24th, 2009 @ 10:06 am Merry apologies and a happy seasons of disorganisation to you all
As usual, I've almost entirely failed to get on top of the usual customs of the season (though I have at least managed to get presents for everyone I need to, I think), and therefore resort to the virtual world to offer up seasonal felicitations....

Merry Christmas, folks. :)


Now to set off into the snowy wilds on a day on which the news services are warning of freezing fog, more snow-falls, and black ice.... Whee! :)
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Sep. 28th, 2009 @ 06:38 pm Back!
Current Mood: weirdweird
I have now, somehow, acquired myself a wife.

Wow.

I am exhausted, but managed to remain at least nominally coherent and active throughout the reception. It took maximum doses of drugs just to manage to venture out of the apartment twice yesterday, and I am rapidly winding down now... but we've made it back home and have made a small dent in the task of attempting to bring order to the wild chaos left by Janet's high-speed dress-making and the other wedding preparations.

I am shattered, woozy, quite impressively disoriented - and also guilty about having failed to invite various people. Sincere apologies to anyone who would have liked to come, but didn't get asked to.

Fortunately, things seemed to go rather well - and everything, even the weather, went far better than I'd feared it might. My health held together (just about) long enough for me to get through it all.

I've got a stack of letters of thanks to write, and a host of chores to tackle, so I'd best head off and fall asleep doing those rather than passing out on the keyboard....
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Sep. 25th, 2009 @ 10:41 pm I'm getting hitched
Current Mood: sleepysleepy
As most of those reading this should know by now, I'm getting married.

To be precise, as I type this, the ceremony is due to start in 16 hours and 11 minutes.

For those who want to poke around a little wiki related to it, just click here. There might, at some point, be photos of the event posted up there too. :)

To those I'm due to see tomorrow: I hope that you have a good time, and that the labyrinthitis lets me stay at least generally upright through most of it.

To those who have sent good wishes from afar: thank you, very much. I've been touched and flattered by the warm words of support, congratulation and encouragement.

I've still got a few minor chores to sort out, but it looks like everything is as in-order as it can be. :)
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Sep. 1st, 2009 @ 11:25 am Amusing in different ways
Stephen Hawking would be dead if he'd been British.

A few examples of Chinese tourist information. I love the warning to sword-wielding ragamuffins....
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Jul. 24th, 2009 @ 03:05 pm Awwwwwwwww....
Current Mood: amusedamused
Now this is really sickeningly cute....
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Jul. 21st, 2009 @ 02:07 pm The interwebz and history
Current Mood: impressedimpressed
Rather a good combination, at times.

This is an online database of soliders who feature in late medieval English muster rolls. Some "soldier profiles" have been lifted out, to track the careers of particular people - interesting oddities (e.g. a Welshman involved in spying and treason) and unusual exemplars alike.
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Jul. 20th, 2009 @ 12:43 pm Wheeeeeeeee!
Current Mood: ecstaticecstatic
Tags:
Not that most of you will care in the slightest, but England have just beaten Australia, to get their first victory over the old enemy at Lord's since 1934 (how typically English to be unable to win at your own headquarters!).

And Andrew Flintoff got five wickets and his name on the honours board in his last Test series (and possibly his last Test match, if the injury he's suffering from is bad enough).


Ahem... now... what was I meant to be doing today?
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May. 18th, 2009 @ 11:54 pm Sophos's latest anti-virus product
Current Mood: amusedamused
It will "quickly perform an on-demand scan and find viruses, spyware, adware, zero-day threats, Betazoid sub-ether porn diallers and Tribbles that your existing protection might have missed."

Welcome to the Klingon anti-virus protection system.

"Can't read Klingon? What are you!!? Ferengi?"
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May. 18th, 2009 @ 01:48 pm Idle but lengthy cynicism...
Current Mood: contemplativecontemplative
Current Music: 2nd Test, from Chester-le-Street
( ...can be found under the cut )
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Apr. 12th, 2009 @ 05:05 pm Mis-heard on the news...
Current Mood: amusedamused

"...and today, scientists announced the discovery of two thousand were-orangutans in India..."

Fortunately for the safety of the world, they're actually rare orangutans....
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Apr. 9th, 2009 @ 11:58 am R.I.P. Dave Arneson
Current Mood: thoughtfulthoughtful
According to reports online (and following some conflicting reports over the last couple of days), the non-media-loving "co-creator of D&D" has died at the age of 61.

Dave Arneson is credited as being the first person to have taken wargames and turned them into stories about individual characters controlled on a one-for-one basis by players. He's credited with inventing the first-ever "role-playing campaign" and the first-ever "role-playing campaign setting" (Blackmoor).

Though it's Gary Gygax who became the "face" of (A)D&D (and who is often though responsible for having forced Arneson out of TSR just as it was becoming truly successful), Arneson himself has always seemed to me to be under-appreciated as the original instigator of the role-playing game hobby - with all its increasingly-popular online spin-offs nowadays. Indeed, as is semi-traditional for former RPG-designers, he went on to found a company creating computer games, and lectured on game design.
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Mar. 21st, 2009 @ 02:12 pm Startlingly brilliant
Sheep. As mobile art.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2FX9rviEhw
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