tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-43702680618297101242024-03-16T13:52:50.396-05:00Robert Fisher: Thinking out loud (3.0)...in my opinion...your mileage may vary...Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733274876782876659noreply@blogger.comBlogger875125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4370268061829710124.post-40592712054930147112017-11-13T20:00:00.000-06:002017-11-13T20:00:05.111-06:00On electric guitar tone<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kt88_power_tubes_in_traynor_yba200_amplifier.jpg#/media/File:Kt88_power_tubes_in_traynor_yba200_amplifier.jpg"><img width="340" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Kt88_power_tubes_in_traynor_yba200_amplifier.jpg" alt="Kt88 power tubes in traynor yba200 amplifier.jpg"></a><br><small>By <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Msquared&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="User:Msquared (page does not exist)">Msquared</a> - Matt Myers - Original photograph by Matt Myers (uploader)., Public Domain, <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5083111">Link</a></small></p>
<p>The first electric guitarist says that good guitar tone requires overdriving a tube pre-amp.</p>
<p>The second guitarist says that the key to good guitar tone is putting EQ before and after your distortion.</p>
<p>The third guitarist says that the real secret to good guitar tones is saturating a tube power amp.</p>
<p>The fourth guitarist says that it is really the amp’s transformer that matters.</p>
<p>The fifth guitarist says that it is about the interaction of the pre-amp, power-amp, and transformer. And don’t forget speaker distortion.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Def Leppard’s best selling album was recorded using Rockman headphone amps. (Developed by Tom Scholz of the band Boston.) Not the Rockman Power Soak with a guitar amp. The little, 1980s-era, solid-state Rockman headphone amp with a belt-clip.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Amplifier4.jpg#/media/File:Amplifier4.jpg"><img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/Amplifier4.jpg" alt="solid-state Rockman headphone amp" width="360px"></a><br><small>By waterborough - photo shooting, Public Domain, <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1274760">Link</a></small></p>
<p>Of course, that is only one example. If you look, you can find many more professional guitarists who have been very successful with gear the purveyors of “good tone” would dismiss out-of-hand.</p>
<p>That’s just one of those things to remember whenever the Gear-Acquisition-Syndrome flares up.</p>Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733274876782876659noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4370268061829710124.post-41011894093790528362017-11-07T20:00:00.000-06:002017-11-07T20:00:07.953-06:00An unusual case where Esperanto could’ve helped<p>(Sube estas traduko de ĉi tio en Esperanto)</p>
<p>An Italian made a YouTube video in English. Another Italian made a video in response. He wanted those who watched the first video to be able to understand his own, so he used English too. But his English was not strong.</p>
<p>If we would use Esperanto as the international language instead of English, this would have been better. The first Italian’s Esperanto would probably still be better than the second’s, but the second’s Esperanto would be better than his English. So, the second could express his thoughts more easily and more clearly.</p>
<hr />
<p>Italo faris filmeton en la Angla. Alia italo faris filmeton por respondi. Li volas, ke tiuj, kiuj spektis la unuan filmeton, povas kompreni la duan, do li antaŭ uzis la Anglan. Sed la Angla de li ne estis bona.</p>
<p>Se ni uzus Esperanton anstataŭ la Angla por la lingvo internacia, ĉi tio estus pli bona. La Esperanto de la unua Italo kredeble ankoraŭ estus pli bona ol tio de la dua, sed la Esperanto de la dua estus pli bona ol la Angla. Do, la dua povus pli facile kaj pli klare esprimi pensojn liajn</p>Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733274876782876659noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4370268061829710124.post-55300721549600484132017-11-06T20:00:00.000-06:002017-11-06T20:00:15.230-06:00The idea of Esperanto<p>First let’s start with busting a myth:</p>
<blockquote><p><strong>Esperanto is <em>not</em> meant to replace natural languages.</strong></p></blockquote>
<p>Esperanto is the world’s most widely spoken constructed language.</p>
<p>The idea behind Esperanto is that <strong>everyone should learn it as their <em>second</em>
language</strong>. Then, when two people who don’t share another language want to communicate, they can use Esperanto.
Moreover, they will be on relatively equal footing since the odds are neither of them are a native Esperanto speaker.</p>
<p>(There actually are native Esperanto speakers. According to Wikipedia, there were about 350 in 1996. You can hear some of them on YouTube: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzDS2WyemBI">Esperanto: Like a Native</a>)</p>
<p>To this end, Esperanto is designed to be easier to learn than natural languages. There are studies that show that it really is, and that learning Esperanto first can help when learning additional languages.</p>
<p>Esperanto isn’t perfect, but finding consensus on perfect is much harder than finding consensus on “good enough”. Esperanto’s creator himself created an improved version, but it couldn’t gain the traction that Esperanto had. Among constructed international auxiliary languages, Esperanto has been most successful.</p>
<p>I think English speakers in particular should support Esperanto as the world’s international language. While English seems to be the current <i>lingua franca</i>, it wasn’t the first. (As “<i>lingua franca</i>” itself attests.) It won’t always be. You can be guaranteed that if the next one isn’t Esperanto, it is going to be harder for you to learn than Esperanto.</p>
<p>If you’re interested in Esperanto, here are some starting points I recommend:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.genekeyes.com/Dr_Esperanto.html">The first book (<i lang="eo">unua libro</i>) of Esperanto in English</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.duolingo.com">Duolingo</a>†</li>
<li><a href="http://www.akademio-de-esperanto.org/fundamento/gramatiko_angla.html">The grammar from the <cite lang="eo">Fundamento de Esperanto</cite> in English</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.akademio-de-esperanto.org/fundamento/ekzercaro.html">The exercises from the <cite lange="eo">Fundamento de Esperanto</cite></a></li>
<li><a href="https://lernu.net/en">Lernu.net</a></li>
</ul>
<p>Of course, there is much more, but those are places to start.</p>
<p>†The web version of the Duolingo Esperanto course includes some helpful grammar notes that are missing from the app. In any case, while I find Duolingo very helpful, I find it isn’t enough by itself to learn a language.</p>Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733274876782876659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4370268061829710124.post-38866349981775319612017-11-05T20:00:00.000-06:002017-11-05T20:00:14.837-06:00Super Mario Run<p><a href="https://www.macstories.net/news/nintendo-disappointed-by-super-mario-run-profits/">Nintendo Disappointed by Super Mario Run Profits</a></p>
<p>I'm in the minority, but I think it hurt <cite>Super Mario Run</cite> more that it wasn't a regular Super Mario game than that the in-app purchase was seen as too expensive. People will pay more than $10 for a good Mario game on any platform.</p>
<p>It also didn’t help that you had to sign-up/log-in before you could play. And that that whole process was awful. And that once you did that, it still took way too many taps to go from launching the app to actually playing the game. This is exactly the lesson that everyone should have taken from the success of <cite>Flappy Bird</cite>.</p>
<p>Controls are arguably an issue on iOS. I’m not fully convinced since there are controllers available. We haven’t seen enough developers willing to make games that require them, though.</p>
<p>But I know that just falling back on “one touch” isn’t a solution. It works beautifully in some cases, but not for every game.</p>
<p>If Nintendo really dedicated itself to creating a first-class Nintendo game for iOS developed for touch controls rather than just “one touch” and made sure that <em>every</em> part of it was polished... I can’t see how they couldn’t make profits they’d be happy with.</p>
<p>If they launched a good iOS controller, then they could not only make better iOS games more easily, they could make money on hardware too.</p>
<p>Maybe that isn’t the best thing for Nintendo to do. But the main point is that, as in most things, the lessons to be learned from <em>Super Mario Run</em> aren’t as simple as “iOS users won’t pay” or “Nintendo can’t be successful on iOS.”</p>Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733274876782876659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4370268061829710124.post-73826537835784180502017-11-04T20:00:00.000-05:002017-11-04T20:00:17.957-05:00How to Fix Facebook?<blockquote><p><strong>How to Fix Facebook? We Asked 9 Experts</strong><br>The New York Times</p><p>Technologists, academics, politicians and journalists suggested ways to improve Facebook — as a product, a company or both. <a href="https://apple.news/Ak6QXrb3TQbO5G_DHU6Ta2Q">Read the full story</a></blockquote>
<p>Fixing Facebook is easy: We all decide that a social network service is something that we're willing to pay for.</p>
<p>When we are the customers, the company will care about our needs. As long as we aren't the one paying the bills, why would we expect the company to care about our needs?</p>
<p>The fact that you may be thinking that this is not an easy solution is exactly the problem. The problem isn’t Facebook. The problem is us.</p>Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733274876782876659noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4370268061829710124.post-34402665258413118962017-10-23T20:00:00.000-05:002017-10-23T20:00:11.786-05:00YouTube v. the sword channels<p>YouTube deleted a channel without warning due to a video that had been up for years. So lots of viewers (including myself) and other YouTubers have rallied to have the channel reinstated.</p>
<p>But I can't help but think that reinstating the channel is a bad idea. It isn't a solution. I can't help but think that Thrand and the other YouTubers supporting him should treat YouTube the same way YouTube is treating them. Just take their content elsewhere. Unlike what happened to Thrand, this is far from YouTube's "first strike", and it is something they're doing right now rather than years ago.</p>
<p>There are many good reasons why YouTube is in the position it is. There would be many downsides to leaving YouTube. But as long as content creators stay, YouTube has no motivation to change. (They may never have any, since they'll bend over backwards to keep the big content providers while continuing to treat the smaller ones this way.) Does anyone really think things are going to get better rather than worse?</p>
<p>While it seems everyone is setting up accounts with vid.me or other services as an "insurance", I can't help but think that it is too late for insurance.</p>
<p>The petition: <a href="https://www.change.org/p/google-inc-reinstate-the-thegnthrand-youtube-channel">Reinstate the ThegnThrand channel</a></p>
Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733274876782876659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4370268061829710124.post-80480171367454721942017-08-13T20:00:00.000-05:002017-08-13T20:00:24.997-05:00On complaints<p dir="auto">It is sad that most companies seem to only be prepared to appease customers rather than to fix systems. When I make a complaint, they’ll “open a ticket”. They want me to tell them what they can do to make me happy so that they can “close the ticket”. When I say, “Make sure it doesn’t happen again,” they’re at a loss. Because they have no way to do that. And the idea that I’d make a complaint because I want to help rather than because I want some sort of recompense or something doesn’t fit in their system.<br></p>Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733274876782876659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4370268061829710124.post-18012128834521693182017-06-19T20:00:00.000-05:002017-06-19T20:00:05.697-05:00Video game console names<table>
<tbody>
<tr><td>Odyssey</td><td>👍</td></tr>
<tr><td>Odyssey 100 (200, 300, &c.)</td><td>😐</td></tr>
<tr><td>Tele-Games</td><td>😐</td></tr>
<tr><td>TV Master</td><td>👎</td></tr>
<tr><td>Telstar</td><td>👍</td></tr>
<tr><td>Telstar Classic</td><td>👍</td></tr>
<tr><td>Telstar Deluxe</td><td>👍</td></tr>
<tr><td>Telstar Ranger</td><td>👍</td></tr>
<tr><td>Telstar Alpha</td><td>👍</td></tr>
<tr><td>Telstar Colormatic</td><td>😐</td></tr>
<tr><td>Telstar Colortron</td><td>😐</td></tr>
<tr><td>Telstar Marksman</td><td>😐</td></tr>
<tr><td>Telstar Galaxy</td><td>👍</td></tr>
<tr><td>Telstar Gemini</td><td>👍</td></tr>
<tr><td>Telstar Arcade</td><td>👍</td></tr>
<tr><td>Channel F</td><td>👎</td></tr>
<tr><td>VCS</td><td>👎</td></tr>
<tr><td>2600</td><td>😐</td></tr>
<tr><td>5200</td><td>😐</td></tr>
<tr><td>7800</td><td>😐</td></tr>
<tr><td>XEGS</td><td>👎</td></tr>
<tr><td>Jaguar</td><td>👍</td></tr>
<tr><td>Astrocade</td><td>😐</td></tr>
<tr><td>Intellivision</td><td>👍</td></tr>
<tr><td>Intellivision II</td><td>👍</td></tr>
<tr><td>Intellivision III</td><td>👍</td></tr>
<tr><td>Arcadia 2001</td><td>👎</td></tr>
<tr><td>ColecoVision</td><td>👍</td></tr>
<tr><td>Vectrex</td><td>👍</td></tr>
<tr><td>Entertainment System</td><td>👎</td></tr>
<tr><td>Super NES</td><td>😐</td></tr>
<tr><td>64</td><td>😐</td></tr>
<tr><td>GameCube</td><td>👍</td></tr>
<tr><td>Wii</td><td>👎</td></tr>
<tr><td>Wii U</td><td>👎</td></tr>
<tr><td>Master System</td><td>👎</td></tr>
<tr><td>Mega Drive</td><td>👎</td></tr>
<tr><td>Genesis</td><td>👍</td></tr>
<tr><td>Saturn</td><td>👍</td></tr>
<tr><td>Dreamcast</td><td>👍</td></tr>
<tr><td>TurboGrafx-16</td><td>😐</td></tr>
<tr><td>Neo Geo</td><td>👍</td></tr>
<tr><td>Interactive Multiplayer</td><td>👎</td></tr>
<tr><td>PlayStation</td><td>👍</td></tr>
<tr><td>PlayStation 2</td><td>👍</td></tr>
<tr><td>PlayStation 3</td><td>👍</td></tr>
<tr><td>PlayStation 4</td><td>👍</td></tr>
<tr><td>PlayStation 4 Slim</td><td>😐</td></tr>
<tr><td>PlayStation 4 Pro</td><td>😐</td></tr>
<tr><td>Pippin</td><td>👍</td></tr>
<tr><td>Xbox</td><td>👍</td></tr>
<tr><td>Xbox 360</td><td>👎</td></tr>
<tr><td>Xbox One</td><td>👎</td></tr>
<tr><td>Xbox One S</td><td>👎</td></tr>
<tr><td>Xbox One X</td><td>👎</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p><strong>Conclusions:</strong></p>
<ol>
<li>It is not hard to come up with a good name.</li>
<li>If you want a bad name, overthink it.</li>
</ol>Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733274876782876659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4370268061829710124.post-17521767825054669632017-01-27T17:00:00.000-06:002017-01-27T17:00:10.915-06:00Has Christianity failed?<p>You might look at the teachings of Jesus as presented in the Christian bible. Then you might look at what people calling themselves Christians are doing and saying. Noting that those two things don’t quite line up, you might ask yourself the question: Has Christianity failed?</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don’t make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won’t be applauding.</p>
<p>When you do something for someone else, don’t call attention to yourself. You’ve seen them in action, I’m sure—‘playactors’ I call them—treating prayer meeting and street corner alike as a stage, acting compassionate as long as someone is watching, playing to the crowds. They get applause, true, but that’s all they get. When you help someone out, don’t think about how it looks. Just do it—quietly and unobtrusively. That is the way your God, who conceived you in love, working behind the scenes, helps you out.</p>
</blockquote>
<p style="text-align:right">—Matthew 6:1–4 (MSG)</p>
<p>In Jesus’ day there were self-righteous, divisive people who put on a show about being religious in public while completely missing the point of the religious teachings. Christianity can’t stop that any more that Judaism or Jesus himself could. People will do what people will do. Jesus’ teachings don’t tell Christians to do anything about that beyond: Don’t be like them! Modern-day Pharisees aren’t evidence that Christianity is failing.</p>
<p>Perhaps more importantly, being Christian doesn’t mean being perfect. It means—when you’re doing it right—recognizing that you aren’t perfect and wanting to become perfect. The most authentic Christian makes mistakes. Christians making mistakes isn’t evidence that Christianity is failing.</p>
<p>When Christianity succeeds, it seldom makes headlines. Which, the gospel of Matthew tells us, is exactly how the Christ said it should be.</p>
<p>And that’s true for other faiths as well. Don’t judge a faith by the headlines.</p>Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733274876782876659noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4370268061829710124.post-17135194754801985162017-01-11T20:00:00.000-06:002017-01-11T20:00:27.539-06:00Minimal D&D<p>This is a collection of <cite>Dungeons & Dragons</cite>-like role-playing games that are 1, 4, or 5 pages.</p>
<p>None of these games claim to be D&D. Legally, of course, they cannot. But they are all attempts at boiling D&D down to its essence. To provide a minimal RPG that still—to some extent—looks and feels like D&D.</p>
<p><b><a href="http://retroroleplaying.net/content/microlite20-rpg-collection">Microlite20</a></b>:</p>
<blockquote><p><cite>Microlite20</cite> is a minimalist role-playing game designed to be usable with the majority of the OGL/d20 supplements, rules and adventures with little or no advance preparation. The basic rules for character generation, combat, magic and level advancement take up a single sheet of paper, meaning it is perfect for introducing role-playing to new players, gaming oneshot adventures or tailoring into your own game system.</p></blockquote>
<p><cite>Microlite20</cite> has a <em>ton</em> of spin-offs including some that seek to appeal more to old school gamers than the original may have.</p>
<p><b><a href="http://retroroleplaying.net/content/searchers-unknown-rpg-collection">Searchers of the Unknown</a></b>:</p>
<blockquote><p><cite>Searchers of the Unknown</cite> is a one-page roleplaying game where player characters are entirely defined by a minimalist old school <cite>Dungeons & Dragons</cite> one line stat block (e.g. “AC 7, MV 9, HD 2, hp 9, #AT 1, D 1d8 mace”) something like monster stat blocks in early editions of D&D.</p></blockquote>
<p><cite>Searchers</cite> likewise has a bunch of spin-offs. Including...</p>
<p><b><a href="https://searchersoftheunknown.wordpress.com/2015/01/06/1974-style-rules/">1974 Style</a></b>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><cite>1974 Style</cite>™ is a set of free, familiar, and easily modifiable role-playing game rules suitable for Fantasy, Pulp, Horror, Western and Sci-Fi Adventures.</p>
<p>A typical old-school RPG module stats list for a monster looks like this: AC6, MV9’, HD 1, hp 4, #AT1, D1-10 by halberd. The 1974 Style rules use these same stats for player characters (PCs).</p>
<p>Character stats can fit on a 3×5 or 4×6 card, and all the rules for a given game and setting can fit on a single sheet of paper.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><b><a href="http://www.tenkarstavern.com/search/label/Swords%20and%20Wizardry%20Light">Swords & Wizardry Light</a></b>:</p>
<blockquote><p>You remember, don’t you? The sounds of battle heard through the clatter of dice? The shuffling of character sheets? The war stories shared with your fellow campaigners? There is a longing in the soul of every adventurer and though it sometimes fades to a whisper, you still hear it. <cite>Swords & Wizardry Light</cite> marks your return to fantasy roleplaying—or if you’re curious what fantasy gaming is all about, this is the perfect introduction. This folio, a twenty-sided die, and a few six-sided dice are all you need to return to the gaming table, recall those halycon days of heroism, and forge brand new legend. Welcome back to <cite>Swords & Wizardry Light</cite>!</p></blockquote>
<p>I greatly appreciate that they actually spelled in “light” instead of “lite”.</p>
<p><b>Honorable mention—<a href="http://www.oedgames.com/">Original Edition Delta</a></b>: OED is really just some house rules for original D&D. But it isn’t far from being everything you need. Lists of spells, equipment, monsters, and treasure are missing; although there are plenty of sources for such things. The XP per level tables are also missing, though you could certainly get by with the S&WL rule there.</p>
<p><b>Honorable mention—<a href="http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/risus.htm">Risus</a></b>: <cite>Risus</cite> is in no way D&D. Though it can certainly do a good spoof of D&D. But it may be the best minimal RPG ever written.</p>
<p><b>Others?</b> Please leave a comment about any other minimal D&D-like games I missed.</p>Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733274876782876659noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4370268061829710124.post-39289025372269140192016-12-30T09:36:00.001-06:002016-12-30T09:36:42.372-06:00How to make rulings in RPGs<p>Some will say that “rulings instead of rules” is one style of playing role-playing games. I say, “rulings instead of rules” is a <em>defining feature</em> of role-playing games.</p>
<p>But I’m not here to convince you of that point today; it is just some context for what follows. Rather, I’m inspired by <a href="http://goblinpunch.blogspot.com/2016/12/how-to-make-rulings.html">a post on the Goblin Punch blog</a> to give some advice on <em>how</em> to make rulings.</p>
<p><strong>Don’t make rules:</strong> Making rulings is <em>not</em> making rules. We’re not talking about a method for developing yet another game with a large set of complex rules. We’re talking about playing without a large set of complex rules. For me, the ideal role-playing game has <em>no</em> rules. It can be handy to have some <em>guidelines</em> to help get us started, but no rules.</p>
<p>Don’t try to make a general rule. Concentrate on making a ruling for the exact situation at hand.</p>
<p>And don’t be afraid to overrule the written guidelines when they give unsatisfying results.</p>
<p><strong>Rulings don’t have to be perfect:</strong> Since we’re talking about role-playing <em>games</em>, it is OK that our rulings won’t be perfect. The bar is simply this: That they are good enough for everyone currently at the table.</p>
<p>Don’t worry about making the perfect ruling. Just make the best ruling you can now.</p>
<p>Which brings us to: <strong>You are not alone:</strong> We grant the referee the power to make the final decisions because it is one way to solve the “No you didn’t! Yes I did!” problem of playing “make believe”. And, if the referee isn’t a jerk, it can be a very satisfactory solution.
<p>But the players know some things the referee doesn’t. The table can make a better ruling than the referee alone.</p>
<p>Now, often the referee has knowledge about a situation that the players lack. But a good referee will take the advice of the players into account when making rulings.</p>
<p><strong>Consistency is overrated:</strong> Worrying about consistency leads us to making rules rather than rulings. So, the “rulings rather than rules” referee should avoid worrying about it. Consistency also suggests that we should be bound by any poor rulings we made in the past. To me, that’s crazy. We always want to strive to make better rulings than we made in the past.</p>
<p>But isn’t consistency important? Don’t we need consistency to ensure fairness? ...for immersion? Fairness and immersion are—in some degree—important, but <em>consistency itself is only important to the degree that it supports fairness and immersion</em>.</p>
<p>Here’s the key to consistency: Everyone around the table needs to feel free to point out <em>important</em> inconsistencies when they arise. The referee then has a chance to consider it when making the current ruling.</p>
<p>If no one at the table notices an inconsistency and thinks it is important enough to mention, then the inconsistency isn’t important.</p>
<p><strong>Not using dice </strong>(or similar tools)<strong>:</strong> Before calling for a roll, ask is whether the situation <em>warrants</em> rolling dice.</p>
<p>It has been said: Only roll the dice when the outcome is uncertain. That may seem obvious, but many of us have fallen into the trap of calling for dice rolls too often. And it is also OK to simply rule something a success if the chance of failure exists but is low.</p>
<p>Also, even if the outcome isn’t certain but it is a minor thing, it is sometimes better to just rule yea or nay and move on.</p>
<p><strong>Using dice </strong>(or similar tools)<strong>:</strong> When you do call for a roll, simply take into account all the prevailing circumstances and come up with a chance of success.</p>
<p>You can ask the players to suggest factors you may have not considered. You can also ask the group if they think the percentage you came up with is reasonable.</p>
<p>Before the roll is made, it is also a good idea to state what a successful roll and a failed roll will actually mean.</p>
<p>If you aren’t good with probabilities, it is good enough to always express the chance of success in percentage and roll percentile dice.</p>
<p><strong>Be careful about repeated rolls.</strong></p>
<p>Let’s say you rule that each character in a four character party has a 50% chance of sneaking. Then you make rolls for each character individually and count one of them failing as the party failing. Then the party has less than a 6% chance of success</p>
<p>If you make them roll for every, say, 30 feet of movement, then their chance for sneaking 60 feet drops to less than 0.4%.</p>
<p>When in doubt, it is probably better to determine a single percentage for the entire party to sneak an entire distance rather than try to decompose it into many individual rolls. Because composing and decomposing probabilities isn’t easy (for most of us).</p>
<p>That said, you don’t want the entire adventure to be summed up in a single roll. You want multiple rolls with meaningful decisions between them. So, it is always a balancing act. And that’s a big topic that I don’t have any more to say about at the moment.</p>
<p><strong>Rulings should be fast?</strong></p>
<p>In the Goblin Punch post, Arnold said that probably the most important point is that rulings should be fast. I’m not sure I agree.</p>
<p>If, as I contend, rulings are a defining feature of role-playing games, then perhaps rulings being fast is not important.</p>Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733274876782876659noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4370268061829710124.post-36703236544588739132016-10-11T20:00:00.000-05:002016-10-11T20:00:03.350-05:00US presidential election 2016<p>The past several years I have made an effort to stay out of politics. I don’t agree with the stance that we have a responsibility to participate in politics. One of the benefits of freedom is that we have the freedom to ignore politics, which can greatly improve your quality of life. Now, it is true that, when I’m not participating, I can’t complain about the outcomes. (Well, I have the freedom to complain. I just don’t have the moral right to.)</p>
<p>And even when I was involved, I generally held the policy of not saying who I voted for. You could often guess based on what I said, but I didn’t think I needed to proclaim it.</p>
<p>This presidential election, however, is different. Not only do I feel I must vote, I also feel like I should take a public stand. Not in an effort to convince anyone to vote the way I am but merely because it feels like taking a stand is warranted.</p>
<p>Trump has made it very clear that he doesn’t know or care about the principles upon which civilization operates. What’s more, I’m not convinced that he would listen to advisors, whether good or bad.</p>
<p>During the 2008 primaries, at the local caucus, I saw first hand the dirty tricks that the Clinton camp will use. I have little respect for her. But I do believe she has a firm understanding of the underpinnings of civilization and a vested interest in preserving it.</p>
<p>I am past the time when I was idealistic enough to support a third party candidate. The biggest problem in Federal politics (prior to Trump’s nomination) is that the two major parties look more like each other than like the electorate. The system doesn’t incentivize the parties to be more representative of the electorate. Since only the people in power could reform the system, and since it is rigged to keep them in power, it is hard to see a time when the system will be reformed to make third parties viable so that our parties might better represent us. The best we can hope for is for a third party to replace one of the major two, but then we’ll just be right back in the same boat.</p>
<p>The system means that—for all my life—my vote for president hasn’t counted. My state, being winner-takes-all, always ends up going 100% Republican no matter how many people vote Democratic or third party. The fact that the Republican nominee is so unfit, however, means that this may be the first time in my lifetime that my vote for president might actually count. So, I’m voting for president this year, and I’m voting for Clinton.</p>Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733274876782876659noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4370268061829710124.post-32601089301462184242016-06-15T20:00:00.000-05:002016-06-15T20:00:20.305-05:00Windows NT 4: A high point<p>Microsoft Windows NT 4 was a good system. It wasn’t a <em>great</em> system. It had plenty of flaws. But—at the time—it may have been the best in its class.</p>
<p>Apple was working on a system code-named Copland to replace the aging Mac OS as a transition to Gershwin, which would supposedly be a <em>real</em> modern, personal-computer OS. But it was a quagmire that would eventually be scrapped.</p>
<p>Linux wasn’t quite old enough...yet. Some people will say “Desktop Linux” is perpetually two years away, but it was good enough to serve as my primary system for the years between Windows NT and when I switched to Mac OS X.</p>
<p>(Apologies to the OS/2 fans, in particular. I never had much experience with it. And no doubt there are other contenders that I’m forgetting. But it was programming for Mac and Windows that was paying my bills. Linux was the only venture away from them I had time for.)</p>
<p>Windows NT 4 had the basic OS services—virtual memory, memory protection, and preëmptive multitasking—that personal computers were finally ready for and needed. It had a UI that borrowed some of the goodness of NeXTSTEP by way of Windows 95. It was sufficiently compatible with older DOS and 16-bit Windows software. (At least for my needs.) And, most importantly, I found myself more productive using it than I was on my Mac.</p>
<p>By the time Windows 2000 came out, I’d moved on to Linux. So, I can’t speak much to when things really started getting worse for Windows.</p>
<blockquote><p>Sidebar: It seemed ironic how so many Mac people ended up on Linux during Apple’s dark years. On the face of it, at least, the two couldn’t seem to be farther apart. Completely open and customizable versus completely closed and curated. One that promises to let you do anything with it as long as you spend the time and effort; one that strives towards “it just works” provided that you want to do exactly what it wants you to do.</p></blockquote>
<p>Microsoft today is so different. They’re no longer on top, and that means they’re doing some really great things. (<a href="https://malirath.blogspot.com/2016/04/dear-apple-stop-nagging-me-for-2nd-time.html">And Apple is pulling Microsoft-style moves.</a>) Yet they’re still doing a lot of silly things. And I wonder if Windows can ever again be even as good as it was with NT 4. Should I leave the Mac again, I can’t imagine it would be for a future version of Windows. Most likely it will be Linux again, if not some upstart that doesn’t exist yet.</p>Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733274876782876659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4370268061829710124.post-83171735515006184712016-04-14T20:00:00.000-05:002016-04-14T20:00:41.435-05:00Dear Apple: Stop nagging me! (for the 2nd time)<p style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" width="75%" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD4XfLAV65hyV0SRX06Kf9ypG2EFOwuszX7Ya-NimeQrt_T-dtkMr-5fM-iM7xBabql086HmYBgo5sPo4zxdR-kmhp3c1SnYBiqolMls6PpS9TSbWIoLRQ-9IYA3Fw8Jc2m9Esbk2gFRqK/s640/blogger-image-303290958.jpg"></p>
<p>This is the feedback I’ve sent Apple. If you feel the same way, <a href="http://www.apple.com/feedback/">please let them know it</a>.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
Stop nagging me about iOS updates. Now.
</p>
<p>
This is something Apple should <em>never</em> have done. I should not have had to say this <em>once</em>. Yet here I am saying it a second time.
</p>
<p>Add a “Don’t remind me” option, or get rid of the notification altogether.</p>
<p>Just stop it. Now.</p>
</blockquote>Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733274876782876659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4370268061829710124.post-10554628801690055002016-02-22T20:00:00.000-06:002016-02-22T20:00:15.696-06:00Logo unification<p><a href="http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/new_logos_for_jetbrains.php">New Logo(s) for Jetbrains</a></p>
<p>How can you take a good logo (if you had one) and make it boring? Create a dozen different logos that look nearly the same.</p>
<p>Having a common theme among product logos isn’t a bad idea, but making them this similar is a bad idea. It was a bad idea when Adobe did it. It was a bad idea when Microsoft did it.</p>
<p>Software companies should stop doing that.</p>Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733274876782876659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4370268061829710124.post-67677988585938278762016-02-21T20:00:00.000-06:002016-02-21T20:00:03.917-06:00What’s the more important message?<p>I find it academically interesting to read things like “<a href="http://itsinthetext.blogspot.com/2016/01/mark-and-divine-christology.html">Mark and Divine Christology?</a>”</p>
<p>But the question of whether Jesus was wholly God or wholly man or wholly both or wholly neither... That’s all academic to me. I can’t understand why it is anything more than that to anyone.</p>
<p>My own personal <i>credo</i> says nothing about the divinity of the Jesus.</p>
<p>If you honestly study the scriptures, you will find that they do not necessarily agree on this matter. (Perhaps they don’t necessarily disagree either, but...again: Academic.)</p>
<p>What is the more important message? The one that is more mixed or the one that is more consistent?</p>
<p>What is the more important message? That Jesus was divine or that we should love our enemies?</p>
<p>What is the more important message? That we should stone certain offenders or that we should not judge others lest we be judged ourselves?</p>
<p>What would Jesus say?</p>Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733274876782876659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4370268061829710124.post-43099420422750114952016-02-20T20:00:00.000-06:002016-02-20T20:00:19.142-06:00On movie audio commentary<p>Movie audio commentary tracks have so much promise, but I don’t think any of the ones I’ve listened to have delivered. Sure, we get some interesting anecdotes and behind-the-scenes discussion, but nothing that wouldn’t have been better and more effectively delivered in a simple interview or other format.</p>Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733274876782876659noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4370268061829710124.post-92068808556206310092016-02-19T20:00:00.000-06:002016-02-19T20:00:12.989-06:00Thoughts upon watching Star Wars: Episode I<p>After seeing Episode VII, we rewatched the previous films. Some thoughts...</p>
<p><strong>There may be spoilers for Episodes I through VI below!</strong> ...but none for Episode VII.</p>
<p><strong>Episode I:</strong> Arguably, Episode I should either never have been made or should have been a very different movie from the others. Contrary to the movie serial conceit, the backstory for an action-adventure may not, itself, be an action-adventure. And this isn’t just an action-adventure but a mythic action-adventure. But here it is anyway...</p>
<p>(If it were a movie serial, Episodes I to III would be about the same characters as Episodes IV to VI. Was there ever a generational movie serial? Flash Gordon certainly wasn’t. You could imagine prior adventures for Leia and Han. Maybe Biggs too. Even Luke could have some minor “Young Indy” adventures on Tatooine. But a serial that followed the adventures of several separate heroes who meet up in Episode IV would be just as unusual.)</p>
<p>We now have Tatooine garb unequivocally becoming the Jedi uniform. This is emblematic. The first film was intended to be “Flash Gordon done <em>right</em>”. With a believable “used future” aesthetic. Here, this film completely contradicts that aesthetic.</p>
<p>Including C-3P0 and R2-D2 is, likewise, is trying to please the audience in the laziest of ways.</p>
<p>This film has been defended as being intended for kids. Which is pointless. A good kids movie has to be a good movie. Being for kids is defense for nothing.</p>
<p>Watching it again, this film does feels strongly like it was made for kids, and that is always a bad thing. Good kids movies don’t feel like they’ve been made for kids.</p>
<p>Furthermore, reflecting on seeing Episode IV when I was eight, it seems completely pointless to make a movie in the same series for kids.</p>
<p>I think a lot of criticism of this film unfairly expects it to be more like Episodes IV, V, and VI. It is a different time with different characters and different events. We already had Episodes IV, V, and VI; no need to repeat them.</p>
<p>The problem is that so little of what is new here is compelling. And the stuff that isn’t new isn’t used in the way that made it work the first time.</p>
<p>The first time I saw this movie, it was my job to make sure that the web site my company was building had no single point of failure. The idea that a droid army should have a single point of failure was—and still is—completely unbelievable. No amount of willingness will suspend it. Not to mention that a kid—no matter how strongly the Force may be with him—would stumble upon that single point of failure that professional fighter pilots wouldn’t find.</p>
<p>And I haven’t even mentioned the J-word.</p>
<p>At the moment I have nothing good to say about this movie.</p>
<p>We later checked out the “no cheese” edit on YouTube. It is amazing how much better it is. Still not good, but so much better.</p>Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733274876782876659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4370268061829710124.post-20290944020001906662016-02-18T20:00:00.000-06:002016-02-18T20:00:10.763-06:00Sword drills<p>I’d been doing a good job of exercising on the stationary bike every morning. 15 minutes per day for the first week; 20 for the second. While away from home over the holidays, I thought I’d take along a Hollowearth Sword, and do some drills out of Christian Tobler’s <cite>Fighting with the German Longsword</cite>.</p>
<p>Things I learned:</p>
<ul>
<li>Sword drills are a lot more work than an exercise bike but don’t earn as much Apple watch green ring credit.</li>
<li>My body really doesn’t like the left <i>vom tag</i> guard. It will do almost anything to do something else when I try to assume it.</li>
<li>Wear gloves for drills.</li>
</ul>Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733274876782876659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4370268061829710124.post-4048869631136555202016-02-17T20:00:00.000-06:002016-02-17T20:00:22.044-06:00Experts<p>From “<a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/exploringourmatrix/2016/01/skepticism-and-consensus.html">Skepticism and Consensus</a>”, which is quoting “On the value of scepticism”:</p>
<blockquote><p>Nevertheless the opinion of experts, when it is unanimous, must be accepted by non-experts as more likely to be right than the opposite opinion.</p></blockquote>
<p>But the non-expert needs a way of finding the experts. And a way of distinguishing experts from other non-experts.</p>Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733274876782876659noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4370268061829710124.post-3569601529725799312016-02-16T20:00:00.000-06:002016-02-16T20:00:05.396-06:00Movie adaptions<p>When people talk about things they like to see made into movies, I always ask: Why? How many good movie adaptions have there been?</p>
<p>Now I do not think that a bad movie adaption somehow ruins the original work. That has nothing to do with it.</p>
<p>Also, it isn’t that I think an adaption has to be exactly like the original. The needs of cinema are different from the needs of other media. I think the first Harry Potter movie is a good example of how staying too close to the text of the original can create a bland movie.</p>
<p>I does bother me when an adaption strays so far that it is no longer the same story. What’s the point in that? Take credit for your story and claim it as your own! Don’t be dishonest.</p>
<p>(The point is that it is easier to sell an adaption to the greenlighters than an original idea, but that doesn’t make it a good thing.)</p>
<p>It bothers me when an adaption fails to keep the spirit of the original. So many seem to even reverse the spirit of the original.</p>
<p>But, that those things bother me is not why I don’t get too excited about adaptions.</p>
<p>I don’t get excited about adaptions because they are so seldomly good movies. The best movies are the stories that—whatever their influences—are created for cinema rather than those that are adapted to it. Which ought to be unsurprising.</p>
Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733274876782876659noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4370268061829710124.post-88714818452520173432016-02-15T20:00:00.000-06:002016-02-15T20:00:04.899-06:00New locking strap review<p>I don’t care for strap locks that require replacing the strap pins on a guitar. And I’ve never actually seen any Grolsch bottle washers. What I have been happy with are the Planet Waves Planet Lock straps.</p>
<p>I recently got an Ernie Ball Polylock strap. Unlike the Planet Lock, it has no moving parts. But it does feel very secure. And it doesn’t feel quite as clunky as the Planet Locks.</p>
<p>Most importantly, though, I have one instrument—an Ibanez Mikro bass—that the Planet Locks won’t fit on. The Polylock does!</p>Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733274876782876659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4370268061829710124.post-17383688780833420442016-02-14T08:00:00.000-06:002016-02-14T08:00:18.472-06:00The Bible is...<p>From “<a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/exploringourmatrix/2016/01/making-the-world-a-better-place.html">Making the world a better place</a>”:</p>
<blockquote><p>Readers of the Bible need to be able to recognize when God is depicted in a manner that is a projection of humanity at its worst.</p></blockquote>
<p>To me the Bible is not a message from God to humans. It is a story of humans trying to understand God (i.e. truth). And themselves.</p>
<p>And it isn’t a story that is finished. Faith isn’t about dogma. It is about starting with the wisdom of our predecessors and then trying to go beyond that.</p>Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733274876782876659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4370268061829710124.post-63489209278605745752016-02-13T20:00:00.000-06:002016-02-13T20:00:08.900-06:00Classic D&D ability checks<p>When playing classic D&D, I like having some mechanics that don’t reduce the 3–18 range for ability scores to ±3. I’ve been using “roll score or less on <i>n</i>d6” for ability checks. (The <i>n</i> depends upon the difficulty of the check.) It’s unfortunate that this doesn’t take the character’s level into account.</p>
<p>So, here’s what I’m considering:</p>
<blockquote><p><b>Roll a d20 for each character level. Pass if any are less than or equal to the ability score.</b></p></blockquote>
<p>Although, unlike <i>n</i>d6, this has no provision to factor in a difficulty.</p>
<p>One possibility is to use different dice. For an easier task, roll d12s instead of d20s. For a harder task, roll d30s instead of d20s.</p>
<p>Another possibility is to have the difficulty modify the character’s level. But what do we do when modified level is less than one?</p>
<p>Maybe require rolling score or less on multiple d20s. e.g. If the effective character level were zero, success requires rolling the ability score or less on two d20s.</p>
<p>Here is an <a href="http://anydice.com/program/77b4">Anydice program</a> showing the odds.</p>Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733274876782876659noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4370268061829710124.post-67997306680936197512016-02-12T20:00:00.000-06:002016-02-12T20:00:06.748-06:00Realistic sword fighting in films<p>A good point is made that on film or video, a realistic sword fight would be too short and too hard for the audience to follow. The sword fight in these media has many other purposes to fulfill other than being an actual sword fight.</p>
<p>I think, however, that film (or video) might be the best medium for depicting realistic sword fights.</p>
<p>On stage, the action would indeed be to quick and subtle to be understood by the audience. Film, however, can slow things down. Camera angles and distance can be chosen to clearly depict what is happening and focus on nuances.</p>
<p>Literature and audio drama aren’t good at depicting the details of motion for three dimensional combatants and their weapons. Film has a huge advantage there.</p>
<p>One place film is at a disadvantage—at least compared to literature—is in depicting the subtle feeling (<i>fühlen</i> among students of Liechtenauer) that allows a fencer to sense their opponent through the pressure of two blades in the midst of a bind.</p>Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733274876782876659noreply@blogger.com1