This week:
- Signed up for Mandarin Chinese classes.
- Started studying the construction of CNC devices. (i.e. robot tools that take a picture or a 3D model in, and carve or burn that shape out for you.)
- Still working on the new boardgame design; started on a second one in parallel.
I love living in The Bay.
Tonight: Went to a salon put on by the Health Extension Community. The first speaker was a guy who built a stem cell lab in his garage from lab equipment bought cheap from bankrupt startups, and funded by reselling the high tech tools they didn't need themselves but that they got offered during those shopping/vulturing trips. The second speaker was a professor who studies the population of stem cells in the brain, and how they're influenced by the FOXO gene, which has been tied to longevity.
Tonight: Went to a salon put on by the Health Extension Community. The first speaker was a guy who built a stem cell lab in his garage from lab equipment bought cheap from bankrupt startups, and funded by reselling the high tech tools they didn't need themselves but that they got offered during those shopping/vulturing trips. The second speaker was a professor who studies the population of stem cells in the brain, and how they're influenced by the FOXO gene, which has been tied to longevity.
The free discussion after the talks was better yet. I volunteered to donate skin to a longevity study. (They needed volunteers of Askenazi ancestry. That's dad's side of the family.) I'd love to contribute to a study on aging: That's a scar I'd bear proudly.
After that I ended up in a conversation with one of the heads of the Space Sciences Institute. Nerd fanboy moment: That's organization was headed by Freeman Dyson up until a few years back. I said I was working on a space colonization themed game, and if it got good enough to be worth showing off, I wanted introductions to scientists to fact-check my work. She was enthusiastic right back at me.
In short, it was awesome.
Oh bother. Morning again. Not that I should be complaining.
Just that I was up again until far too close to dawn. writing some gent' in Japan ideas about how to tweak his board game.* Excellent to be so inspired you'd rather not sleep. Less excellent the next day when it's time to get to work, and you barely slept.
- - - - - - -
*: i.e. "Here's how to keep your theme and keep it fun, while ditching all the parts of the game you don't need, so you can sell it for 20 bucks instead of 40 bucks."
Just that I was up again until far too close to dawn. writing some gent' in Japan ideas about how to tweak his board game.* Excellent to be so inspired you'd rather not sleep. Less excellent the next day when it's time to get to work, and you barely slept.
- - - - - - -
*: i.e. "Here's how to keep your theme and keep it fun, while ditching all the parts of the game you don't need, so you can sell it for 20 bucks instead of 40 bucks."
Science!!
Today's test: Reposado Tequilas.
5 test subjects drank a 1/3 shot of tequila, straight, from each of 4 samples:
- Zapopan
- Cazadores
- Milagro
- Trader Joe's "Distinqt"
The tests were double blinded: Neither subject nor administrator knew what was being consumed*. The subjects ranked the 4 samples, and those rankings were processed via Condorcet voting.
1st place: Cazadores
2nd place: Trader Joe's "Distinqt"
3rd place: Milagro
4th place: Zapopan
The results were unambiguous: 4 out of 5 reviewers immediately gave the Zapopan their bottom ranking. 3 out of 5 gave Cazadores their top rank, so it won not only by Condorcet compromise-finding, but through simple majority as well.
*:Granted, the Milagro was a silver thrown in with 3 reposados, so you could hold it up to the light and see.
Today's test: Reposado Tequilas.
5 test subjects drank a 1/3 shot of tequila, straight, from each of 4 samples:
- Zapopan
- Cazadores
- Milagro
- Trader Joe's "Distinqt"
The tests were double blinded: Neither subject nor administrator knew what was being consumed*. The subjects ranked the 4 samples, and those rankings were processed via Condorcet voting.
1st place: Cazadores
2nd place: Trader Joe's "Distinqt"
3rd place: Milagro
4th place: Zapopan
The results were unambiguous: 4 out of 5 reviewers immediately gave the Zapopan their bottom ranking. 3 out of 5 gave Cazadores their top rank, so it won not only by Condorcet compromise-finding, but through simple majority as well.
*:Granted, the Milagro was a silver thrown in with 3 reposados, so you could hold it up to the light and see.
Holy crap, new nerd crush:
Kate Darling of the MIT media lab.
First off, total mad scientist, producing cutting-edge research on torturing robots, or not: She'd give people sociable robots, let the people bond with the sociable robots, and then ask the people to "torture" or "kill" the sociable robots, only to show that most people can't, once they've formed empathy with the robot, even though they know it's a robot.
For serious.
Since then she's stayed busy researching how Intellectual Property works without Intellectual Property, based on observations of the Adult Video industry. When you can get MIT to sign off on your paper that required you to research porn, you are making the scientific publishing process your bitch.
Kate Darling of the MIT media lab.
First off, total mad scientist, producing cutting-edge research on torturing robots, or not: She'd give people sociable robots, let the people bond with the sociable robots, and then ask the people to "torture" or "kill" the sociable robots, only to show that most people can't, once they've formed empathy with the robot, even though they know it's a robot.
For serious.
Since then she's stayed busy researching how Intellectual Property works without Intellectual Property, based on observations of the Adult Video industry. When you can get MIT to sign off on your paper that required you to research porn, you are making the scientific publishing process your bitch.
I started writing notes for a game idea last Saturday, all day long. Today I spent the whole day scribbling more notes. Other than that, it's been 15 minutes here and there on the train each day.
Right now I've got more than 15,000 words of notes on the game. That's almost a third of a novel worth of words, according to the folks at NaNoWriMo. That's crazy.
The good news, other than how well it's coming along, is that this is a "keyhole game". Each player only needs to know a tiny part of the game to jump in and start playing. So far, it's feeling awesome.
The bad news is it's a just-for-fun because-I-can't-stop-writing game design project. The game has zero potential to be a profitable commercial project for my game company. It's a game for 15 to 100 players, meant to be played at conventions. That's too specialized to be something you can do a full-scale print run on. This is feeling like one to release into the wild as a Creative-Commons licensed document so anyone can copy it for free, and one to upload to a print-on-demand service like The Game Crafter so anyone who wants a copy can order it as a one-off.
Whew. It's being fun. Anyway, back to writing!
Right now I've got more than 15,000 words of notes on the game. That's almost a third of a novel worth of words, according to the folks at NaNoWriMo. That's crazy.
The good news, other than how well it's coming along, is that this is a "keyhole game". Each player only needs to know a tiny part of the game to jump in and start playing. So far, it's feeling awesome.
The bad news is it's a just-for-fun because-I-can't-stop-writing game design project. The game has zero potential to be a profitable commercial project for my game company. It's a game for 15 to 100 players, meant to be played at conventions. That's too specialized to be something you can do a full-scale print run on. This is feeling like one to release into the wild as a Creative-Commons licensed document so anyone can copy it for free, and one to upload to a print-on-demand service like The Game Crafter so anyone who wants a copy can order it as a one-off.
Whew. It's being fun. Anyway, back to writing!
Every year, on February 14th, millions of chocolates will find a loving home in someone's tummy. But millions more will be abandoned, marked half-down in chocolate shops, unloved, abandoned.
Today, my friends, is Discount Chocolate Day.
Today is their day. It's time for all of us to step up and make room in our hearts and our bellies for this abandoned confection. Please, think of the chocolate.
Today, my friends, is Discount Chocolate Day.
Today is their day. It's time for all of us to step up and make room in our hearts and our bellies for this abandoned confection. Please, think of the chocolate.
Just found out my college roomie is making music under the name "Anoura"
How she chose her musician name: "Anoura" is the genus of frogs.
I have the best nerdy friends.
How she chose her musician name: "Anoura" is the genus of frogs.
I have the best nerdy friends.
