User:	twentysidedtale
Date:	2013-05-21 18:46
Subject:	Experienced Points: Nintendo Wants Its Cut
Security:	Public

http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=19784

Nintendo thinks it should get all money from video series that use footage from their games. And here is what I think about that. Below is the full Nintendo quote. Emphasis mine:

For most fan videos this will not result in any changes, however, for those videos featuring Nintendo-owned content, such as images or audio of a certain length, adverts will now appear at the beginning, next to or at the end of the clips. We continually want our fans to enjoy sharing Nintendo content on YouTube, and that is why, unlike other entertainment companies, we have chosen not to block people using our intellectual property.

They really have no concept of how this works. Their perceptions are so distorted that they think they’re being generous.

User:	goblins_rss
Date:	2013-05-21 18:12
Subject:	Goblins: Alternate Realities Kickstarter Delay
Security:	Public

http://www.goblinscomic.com/goblins-alternate-realities-kickstarter-delay/

http://www.goblinscomic.com/?p=4256

Well, the last week has been quite an adventure. I can’t get into details, but we’re working through a bit of a “legal hiccup” and we’ve been forced to delay the launch of the Kickstarter just a little bit. Evertide Games is treating this as an opportunity to add even more stuff to the campaign and make it even more awesomer-er… est. Our delay is your gain.

Nevertheless, I still want to offer my deepest apologies for this delay, which will be as short as we can possibly make it. I’ll keep you posted as much as I can through this blog or on Twitter.

Also, check out just a few of the stretch goal rewards that will be offered to supporters…

As always, thanks for reading!

~Thunt

User:	goblins_rss
Date:	2013-05-11 08:01
Subject:	05/11/2013
Security:	Public

http://www.goblinscomic.com/05112013/

	User:	drwex
	Date:	2013-05-21 14:26
	Subject:	Really Good Reading
	Security:	Public
	Mood:	busy

Two articles I've read recently that impressed me.

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/05/what-we-mean-when-we-say-race-is-a-social-construct/275872/

Ta-Nehisi Coates continues to be fantastic in talking about race.

----------

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/05/using-science-to-reform-toxic-player-behavior-in-league-of-legends/

How one game company used "science" - that is a combination of gleanings from social science and psychology - to modify player behavior. It's a brilliant piece of work.

	User:	telophase
	Date:	2013-05-21 12:32
	Subject:	BTW
	Security:	Public

If you like your fantasy grimdark and your protagonists just this side of evil, Tor.com's doing a reread of Glen Cook's Black Company series. Note: although the first volume's ebook version is on sale for $2.99, if you want the whole series in ebook format, it'll be cheaper in the long run to get the collections instead. The reread's going to go fairly quickly, at a book every two weeks, so be prepared for that. :D

Now to go reacquaint myself with the Company's physician and chronicler Croaker, and to laugh at his habit of writing self-insert fanfic about himself and the Company's employer, Lady.

You can comment here or at the Dreamwidth crosspost. comments at Dreamwidth.

	User:	ursulav
	Date:	2013-05-21 17:00
	Subject:	Digger Omnibus Kickstarter Coming Soon!
	Security:	Public

Well, the title more or less says it all, but let me say it again.

We want to do an omnibus edition of Digger. You guys asked (repeatedly!) and we think it’s a great idea!

The downside (and the reason we haven’t done it already) is that hardcover omnibuseseses require a big chunk of cash up front—we’re talking a big print job here, on the order of the Bone omnibus edition, and that does not run cheap. (Plus, of course, while people keep asking, we’re talking a spendy beast here and we want to make sure there’s enough interest to justify doing it!) Plus, if we get a LOT of interest, we can do all kinds of neat extras, like color inserts and cover embossing and extra stories and giant wombat balloons in the Macy’s Day Parade!*

So, in a couple of weeks, we’ll be Kickstartering! And we will have all kinds of neat goodies for sponsors (postcards! pins! pickaxes!) and also all kinds of mildly absurd goodies for sponsors (I believe at one level, I name a tree in the yard after you and put a little plaque with your name on it…) so watch this space for more information! You’ll be the first to know!

(Also, hey, Digger got nominated for the Mythopoeic Award, which is neat, too!)

*One of these things is a bald-faced lie.

Originally published at Tea with the Squash God. You can comment here or there.

	User:	theferrett
	Date:	2013-05-21 12:22
	Subject:	The Kind Of Woman I Don’t Want
	Security:	Public

“Cammy is the perfect woman,” says Dennis Hof, owner of the Moonlite Bunny Ranch.  “Cammy has a value system that comes from the fifties.  We were on an airplane, and a pilot – a lady pilot – introduced herself to me.  When she went back into the cockpit, Cammy said, ‘I’d rather she be serving Cokes and peanuts, and let a man be the pilot.’

“She designed her life around, ‘How can I please a man?’ She went to massage school, cooking school – she bought a book on blowjobs. I wish more girls would do that. If more girls did what Cammy’s doing… my business would go down.”

And good Lord, I am filled to brimming with revulsion.

The thing is, I’m not revulsed by Cammy’s choice.  If Cammy is content living subserviently, and that makes her happy, then I say “Go, Cammy.”  (Even if I suspect Cammy is perpetuating an elaborate ruse to extract cash from gullible men’s pockets.  They say the best salesman never appears to be a salesman.  Cammy’s probably getting exactly what she wants, from men who probably deserve it.)

But I’d never want a woman whose whole job was dedicated to pleasing me.  That has nothing to do with feminism; it has everything to do with the fact that ultimately, I think humans turn into monsters when they have all of their needs met without cost.

Maybe that’s because I worked in retail – where if you’re smart, the attitude has to be, “The customer is always right.”  Because you don’t want the customer to feel dumb; nothing closes a customer’s wallet quicker than, “Gee, your concerns are stupid.”  And they’ll tell people how they were insulted, spreading bad tales about you wherever they go.

So when they cram your mouth full of shit, you swallow it and smile.

Working retail, eventually you come to realize that “reasonable” is determined by past history.  You think it’s reasonable that a cup of good coffee is $3.95 because you grew up in a Starbucks culture… but talk to a guy who grew up in the 1950s, when coffee was an inflation-adjusted dollar at best.  You think it’s reasonable that drivers will give you the finger and honk at you in traffic, because you grew up in Manhattan.  You think it’s reasonable that people smoke in restaurants, because you live in Europe.

The important point: that “reasonable” creeps up, depending on what people do.

As humans, we’re bounded by other people’s reactions.  And if everyone acts like you’re completely normal and wonderful, you internalize that.. even if you’re completely awful.  On some level, we all think, “Well, if we get out of hand, someone will tell me I’m too much trouble.”

Remove those blocks – and sure enough, you start becoming too much trouble.

Wanna know why celebrities implode?  Because they’re swaddled in a culture that caters to their every whim because they’re a non-replaceable entity, and when normal people see them it’s usually in a gawking fawningness of “Oh my God, it’s you!  I’m so pleased to meet you!”  So their waiters go to extra miles that no normal person would get, and when they casually ask for a Diet Coke at precisely 45 degrees with a titanium straw in it, everyone just brings it to them.  Nobody notes this is actually really a pain in the ass to do for them, or if they do, they agree that oh, you absolutely need a perfectly-chilled drink.

Eventually, you come to think that this is reality.  That the 45-degree Diet Coke with the titanium straw is not just you, but universal and easy to do, it’s happened a thousand times before.  And then a waiter forgets and you get the wrong drink – and for the celebrity, it’s like they got brought a cup of transparent coffee with broken glass at the bottom.  It’s such a stupidly-done thing that it feels like an insult.  How could they not know?

So: embarrassing shitfit in a public place.  And to some extent, it’s not the celebrity’s fault – it’s the fault of all these people around them, nodding and agreeing and convincing them that yes, this is the way the world is.  Sure, the celebrity went off the fucking rails, but all of their PR agents and fans and entourage quietly removed the rails months ago.  In some ways, it’s astounding that they kept on the right path for as long as they did.

And you see that in retail, where people think, “Oh, I’m always right!  So I’ll sit in the coffee shop and slop coffee all over this magazine I have no intention of paying for, then leave it sprawled on the counter in a pile of sugar and drool.”  They think, “I’m always right, so when I bring back a tattered book with no receipt and want cash for it, the clerk who’s refusing me needs a good, solid yelling.”  They think, “I’m always right, so why aren’t these clerks catering to my every whim?”

And yes: you get more money from these nitwits.  But you do so by catering to their dysfunction.  Which means you get richer off of exploiting people’s psychological weak points.  (A point I make, in a somewhat more hammer-handed way, in my story Dead Merchandise.)  You actually make them a little insane – and some of them a lot insane – to harvest their cash.

So for me, having someone eager to cater to my every need makes them, in a low-grade way, the enemy of my sanity.  I want people who question, who remind me of the work this took, who tell me when I’m inconveniencing them.  A woman like Cammy (or at least how Cammy presents herself) would undermine the integrity of the person I’m trying to be, give me an inflated sense of self-esteem I might not deserve, slowly push me towards the land o’crazy expectations.

She’s not the perfect woman, Denis.  She’s a perfect servant, perhaps.  But perfect servants come with hidden costs, and I for one would be very reticent to pay them.

Cross-posted from Ferrett's Real Blog.

	User:	telophase
	Date:	2013-05-21 10:44
	Subject:
	Security:	Public

Haven't read it yet (I saved it to Instapaper to read later), but Longreads pointed out this article: Anatomy of a Cosplayer.

You can comment here or at the Dreamwidth crosspost. comments at Dreamwidth.

	User:	theferrett
	Date:	2013-05-21 11:01
	Subject:	So How Is My May Depression?
	Security:	Public

Long-time readers will know: May is the time my Seasonal Affective Disorder usually creeps in.  For a few weeks out of the year I’ll become a sniffling pile of self-hatred, sometimes skidding as far as self-harm, weeping and curling into a ball.  This misery lasts for about three to six weeks, during which in lesser moments all of my suicide attempts have arrived, and when I emerge it’s a slow crawl.

This is where the sadness usually starts to tickle.  And… it hasn’t yet.  Which concerns me.

The thing is, if there’s any year when I might not have my usual SAD, this would be it.  I’ve had major surgery in January, which my body is still recuperating from in some minor ways.  I’ve changed my diet and exercise habits.  And I’m on new medications, specifically a heavy dosage of Vitamin D in order to get my cholesterol and body chemistry back to proper levels.

So is it going to arrive?  Maybe.  I felt very sad on Saturday but then I ate a sandwich and realized my blood sugar was low, and everything went better.  I’m feeling a little low now, but is that SAD or just a reluctance to charge ahead with a tedious work day?

No clue.  Until then, I’m sort of waiting for the axe to fall – maybe it’ll show up late.  (It used to arrive in June.)  I’m on alert, trying to be careful about how I react, so I don’t take anything too much to heart.

But once a year, I usually have to endure a time of knives and anguish.  That may or may not show up this year.  In some ways, waiting for it to hit is nearly as bad as the depression itself, being tensed for a blow that may never arrive.  On the other hand, I’m relatively content, and finishing up my novel.

A strange place to be.

Cross-posted from Ferrett's Real Blog.

User:	jeffro_gaming
Date:	2013-05-21 10:48
Subject:	Madicon 22: BattleTech– Trial by Fire!
Security:	Public

http://jeffro.wordpress.com/2013/05/21/madicon-22-battletech-trial-by-fire/

http://jeffro.wordpress.com/?p=8047

A Jenner mugs a Zeus!

I blew into the early morning time slot a few minutes late. The two players were brand new to the game, though, so I didn’t feel too bad about grabbing a soda from the drink machines while they set up and went over the rules.

The guy that blogs at The Rhetorical Gamer was running the game. As much as possible I tried to bite my tongue and let him do all the teaching. But… it is a totally classic game. There are so many cool things about it, so many rules, tactics, things that have happened…. You can very easily overwhelm the new guys. I probably did. But hey, it was Trial By Fire, so we might as well have just jumped in.

The Panther is forced to come out from his cover….

We divided up the mechs for our side. I offered to take the wimpiest one and they went with that. I didn’t want to be too pushy and make them do everything I thought was best. But at the same time… I wanted them to have enough information that they could make informed decisions throughout the game. At the early stages of the game, they ended up holding their position in cover while I charged in. I was hoping to draw enemy fire and maybe even make an opening for them. (I remembered the Jenner to be a fairly serious threat back in the day….)

This turned out to be a major tactical error, though. We missed an awful lot. One guy never hit at all the entire game. When we did hit, the only place we landed a decent concentration of damage was in the center torso. As we started  crunching through the internal structure, we never got any criticals, either. This ended up being the proverbial tough row to hoe.

Getting in our last licks before the opposing mech could leave the board…!

Meanwhile, the one of the first hits I’d taken had caused an engine hit. Did that ever make me wished I’d overheated my mech already! I just lurched along after that contributing only a shot or two each turn… until I got into a decent enough position that I could unload everything. This hit next to nothing and promptly shut my mech down.

Did I mention that we were playing novice mechwarriors? I tell you, that extra penalty on the to-hit rolls that we had made it really tough on us. To make matters worse, though, we lost initiative far more often than we expected to as well. That pretty well sums up our game, though: we did really good except when it came to making to-hit rolls, rolling criticals, and winning initiative. Doh!

But you should have seen that enemy mech when he finally made it back to base. His center torso was blown wide open with maybe one or two strands of myomer fibers still holding it together. (I’d really like to have a better strategy if I was going to try this again. Maybe if we had ignored taking cover altogether and  got into short range a little quicker…. But then, maybe that mech would have just clobbered us! So who knows….)

At any rate, a couple of new players got walked through the basics of BattleTech. And they got to do it with a really nice set of models, too. It was a good game. It was just enough to whet my appetite, though. I don’t think I’ve seen the last of this game system…!

User:	someposifeed
Date:	2013-05-21 14:00
Subject:	[Comic 5-21-13] Focus
Security:	Public

http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp05212013.shtml

User:	darthsanddroids
Date:	2013-05-21 10:11
Subject:	Episode 886: Firing and Flying
Security:	Public

http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0886.html

User:	irregular_comic
Date:	2013-05-21 10:11
Subject:	Irregular Webcomic! #488 Rerun
Security:	Public

http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/488.html

	User:	jeriendhal
	Date:	2013-05-21 05:26
	Subject:	365 Days of Drabbles, Day One Hundred Forty-One
	Security:	Public

For rix_scaedu: “Home alone with a toddler”>

(for as "alone" as anyone gets in this 'verse)

* * * *

Svetlana held little Ilya up by his hands, cooing, “Walk. Yes, that’s it, walk little one.” The baby grinned and gurgle, putting one foot in front of the other with increasing confidence.

“He’s doing well,” her ‘morph noted.

She walked slowly backwards, Ilya following, tiny hands gripping hers. “Haven’t I told you not to talk? Ever.”

“Sorry, mistress. But it is time.”

Something in the ‘morph’s tone made her stop, picking Ilya up in her arms to look out the window. A transport was parked outside. Stepping out was a pink bunnymorph.

“He doesn’t need one,” she hissed.

“Everyone does.”

User:	sjgames
Date:	2013-05-21 06:19
Subject:	May 21, 2013: Lawn Ogres – Much Better Than Gnomes!
Security:	Public

http://www.sjgames.com/ill/a/2013-05-21

	User:	whswhs
	Date:	2013-05-20 22:58
	Subject:	crossover
	Security:	Public

Test pilot Benjamin J. Grimm, trying out a new flight simulator, is surprised to find the interior bathed with brilliant green light. When he opens the hatch, he realizes he's being carried across the desert toward a crashed spacecraft, whose dying pilot gives him a green ring, inducting him into an interstellar police force, as a totally fearless and honest bearer.

Science student Peter Parker, working after hours in the high school chem lab, is sprayed with chemicals when a lightning bolt strikes through the window. Shaken, he realizes that the unexpected baptism has enhanced his reflexes and his movements far beyond human limits. His first thought is to earn money by doing highly visible stunts, but after his uncle is killed he resolves to turn to defending people without his powers.

Shortly after opening his law practice, blind attorney Matt Murdock is walking with his father away from a boxing match when two gunmen shoot his father down. One of them says dismissively, "Him? Blind as a bat; he can't identify us." This inspires him to take on a second identity to avenge his father's death, as "Bat-Man," taking advantage of his athletic training and his superhumanly keen senses, the result of the same accident that cost him his sight.

Ororo Munroe, left orphaned in the streets of Cairo by an earthquake that kills her parents, feels an unaccountable emotional pull toward the deserts of North Africa. After a perilous journey, she finds her way to a lost city of amazons, refugees from the fall of the ancient world. They adopt her and train her in the arts of war and peace, but eventually, as a young woman, she wants to rediscover her parents' world. This brings her to America, caught up in struggles over women's rights and black rights. She assumes the identity of "Wonder Woman" to lend her warrior arts to the struggle.

Kl'rt, the greatest warrior of the shapeshifting Skrulls, is sent to Earth to observe its people and plan an invasion. His secret is uncovered by a keenly observant detective, Lieutenant John Jones, who confronts him. An unexpected turn of events leaves Jones dead and Kl'rt owing him a debt. To preserve his own honor, Kl'rt assumes Jones's identity and uses his powers secretly as a crimefighter.

User:	lmb_myspace
Date:	2013-05-20 11:10
Subject:	2013 Hugo voter's packet is up
Security:	Public

http://www.myspace.com//loismcmasterbujold/blog/546921294

	User:	theglen
	Date:	2013-05-20 23:52
	Subject:	2176-2200
	Security:	Public

2176. Even if calling out characters for critical hits is encouraged, no talking the crit hit monster into naming his character Skjor.
2177. Plan A is not send in the Doom Reaver and wait for the screams to stop.
2178. Despite what you think, the profession: Dentist can't substitute for the interrogation skill.
2179. My Werebear can't hibernate through the boring expository parts at the beginning.
2180. Even if I can justify a Viking with a maxed out legal skill, that doesn't give him a law degree.
2181. Druids don't practice dental hygiene by having small birds pick their teeth clean.
2182. Mechalus are not just Borg with better PR.
2183. Distract the bad guy does not mean with a called shot to his appendix.
2184. No hacking the target megacorp to put out a recall notice for their security's firearms.
2185. Despite it's tremendous cost to benefit ratio, bubblewrap is not a staple of black ops.
2186. My character in an Anthro RPG is meant to be a anime furry cliche, not an escapee from Looney Toons.
2187. No matter how many examples I can give, a flamethrower cannot boost morale.
2188. The primary use of a Druid's nature lore is not to learn the mating calls of various fey creatures.
2189. The 2nd Book of Gretsky appears nowhere in the Canadian Bible.
2190. Can't take Energy Blast with infinite range and the ability to shoot through the TV and just channel surf the news.
2191. When challenged by a Dwarf King, I can't pick basketball.
2192. The villain will eventually notice the train tracks are starting to point straight at his front door.
2193. Inspire Courage is a great super power, unless you use it to get hordes of innocent bystanders to bum rush the super villain.
2194. No questioning the Marshal on why a town of 4,000 people and no strategic value warranted a 100 megaton nuke.
2195. "Bladder Control" is not an appropriate super hero power.
2196. When listing the advantages of elves to the new player, I will leave off "shatter proof".
2197. Rings of Fire Resistance offer no protection from rug burn.
2198. When the villain is hiding from us, just can't call him on his cell.
2199. No animal companions come in their prehistoric version.
2200. If I just cast 17 fire spells in the Druid's Sacred Grove and a simple "Sorry" isn't going to cut it.

User:	schlock_feed
Date:	2013-05-20 22:00
Subject:	Schlock Mercenary: May 21, 2013
Security:	Public

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SchlockRSS/~3/Zu-XC9V5_X0/2013-05-21

	User:	ndrosen
	Date:	2013-05-21 00:03
	Subject:	Weekend Schalkenbach Board Meeting
	Security:	Public

I went to New York City this weekend to attend a meeting of the Board of the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation. I was re-elected as a director, and other business was transacted and discussed. This why the last edition of the Red Queen's Race was Thursday rather than Friday.