Legislate like it’s 1999
April 14th, 2008 by joby
Heh.
Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category
D&D Fourth Edition
August 21st, 2007 by joby
At Gen Con last week Wizards of the Coast announced that they will be releasing the fourth edition of Dungeons and Dragons in the Spring/Summer of 2008. The announcement was, of course, accompanied with the regular complaining about Wizards. They are either ruining the game, demonstrating their avarice, or both. I am cautiously optimistic for the following reasons:
1) Third Edition was a vast improvement on Second Edition. Second Edition was an attempt to consolidate classes and rules into generics that could be easily specialized, but there was not sufficient organization and frameworking to allow this to be an easy or regular process. Third Edition (with all of it’s currently obvious warts) was a massive improvement. The design goal of simplification and standardization dramatically eased starting play and allowed for a framework that helped keep game extensions fairly sane.
2) Some of the recent innovative rules books (not the more generic stuff) have included some very good alternate mechanics that improve the game. This includes the Tome of Battle, Tome of Magic (I really like the mechanics of the Truenamer), and the Star Wars Saga Edition.
3) The deliberate manner in which Wizards has approached the Magic Items Compendium and the Monster Manual V (and seems to be approaching 4E) demonstrates a concern for simplifying management while enhancing playability.
We’ll see as Wizards slowly releases more information about the forthcoming Fourth Edition.
Michael Totten with the Peshmerga
April 5th, 2007 by joby
Michael continues his tour of Iraqi Kurdistan with a visit with the official army of the three Kurdish provinces — the Peshmerga.
Heh
February 14th, 2007 by joby
Former Senator Fred Thompson today:
In Congress, they are debating a meaningless resolution.
Down the street, they are trying a guy for lying about a leak.
A House subcommittee had to cancel a hearing on global warming because of snow.
Just another day in Washington.
Happy Valentine’s Day.
Toyota’s Fears
February 14th, 2007 by joby
With Toyota soon surpassing GM as the #1 car manufacturer world-wide, Toyota is concerned that the additional exposure will make the company a target of the Democratic Congress. This is not an unfounded fear. Toyota is a non-union employer, largely located in the South that is outpacing the union employers of the Democratic upper Mid-West. GM’s woes are not surprising at all they:
1) Overly rely on vehicles with a high profit margin (large vehicles), and cannot make money on the average car (which Toyota does).
2) Allow workers to smoke on the line, and dash to the local bar during lunch to pound some beers — who wants a car made by a buzzing smoker?
3) Have a legacy of overly generous salaries and benefits that originated in the golden age of Detroit, but is just not affordable when they must compete.
4) Rely on political connections to prevent more onerous environmental regulation and protect their cash cows, while Toyota tapped the green market to make large profits.
In the end, Toyota has a successful business model that can remain profitable — even in adverse economic climates. While GM (and Ford) rely on specific market and political climates to make any money. This is simple survival of the fittest — the more adaptable company will win in the end.
RCP: Stuck on Stupid
October 31st, 2006 by joby
John Kerry again displays his supernatural ability to say the dumbest thing possible:
You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.
Some how I don’t think this is the message Democrats trying to win the US Senate seats from Missouri, Tennessee, and Virginia want to be discussing with a week to go until the election. The playbook that Dems have been using this season consists of three points:
- Point out Republican failures (pretty easy to hit the side of this barn)
- Don’t propose anything (if you don’t have a plan the public won’t be reminded why they knocked the Dems out of power)
- Don’t screw up
Calling the men an women who have served in Iraq uneducated morons definitely violates item #3. This is just what the RNC, etc need to run a pretty devastating commercial in some key markets, that could secure the Senate and possibly the House. I’d say that makes John Kerry the DUMBASS OF THE MONTH.
261 vs. 228
October 23rd, 2004 by joby
Again composed from RealClear Politics.com’s Battleground State Polls and OpinionJournal.com’s Electoral College Calculator.
I’ve added Iowa to Bush’s column (RCP Average of Bush +3.5) and taken New Hampshire away from Kerry (RCP Average of Kerry +0.7). This makes Bush’s math much easier, and Kerry’s much more difficult.
Continue reading ‘261 vs. 228′
Party Cat
October 22nd, 2004 by joby
If Instapundit can do it, I can too. This is Scout at my birthday party in 2002. My friends came with Star Wars “party favors”…not a fan of the party favors…especially the hats. So I decided to inflict it on the cats. Scout obviously shares my view of the hat.