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A Miniature a Day Day 10/30 #30daychallenge #getcreative

Today's Miniature

Warzone Mourning Wolf Heroine

Returned to Warzone painting last night. I know this is one of the worse shots I have taken, I'll try and get a better one tonight. But it was figures like this that got me into Warzone as a game. That's just a cool figure.

I will probably focus on the remaining figures in this squad. Instead of the usual process of making all the figures look basically the same my goal this time to is to allow a little more variation. You can't tell from the crappy picture but I tried to utilize some different techniques and colors in this one. Used a black undercoat with a real light metal dry brush for the gun and the chain, instead of my customary all metallic color. I was pretty happy with how it turned out.

Different route, flatter, knocked out 4.5 miles, it took longer for the pain to come, which is the plus side, must endeavor to persevere

A miniature a Day Day 9/30 #30daychallenge #getcreative

Today's Miniature

Clan War Phoenix Hero

Sorry for the break, I had a very busy weekend: multiple birthday parties, plus getting the new laptop configured correctly. Anyway, back to it with another Clan War figure, you can see another reason I like the game so much is the miniatures are very interesting to paint.

This one was done in multiple layers of red, starting with a dark 'blood red' then dry brushed with a lighter bright red, then topped with a light dry brush of a dark yellow. The feathers were a special challenge, but I thought I handled them alright.  

Back to painting tonight, but probably take a break from the Clan War, not sure what I will do, thinking of returning to my Lizardmen.

Well this game is seriously demoralizing, I wonder if the Rams can make the adjustments to not let this get any uglier?

Kids fed & bathed, oldest working on homework, decks are clear for me to watch the Rams on Monday night football! Here we go!

Dragged myself out for a 4 mile run this morning, pushed through the pain to do it, my new plan for the week begins with 1 word: stretch!

Party over, got in some good jungle ball with the teenagers & at least ate well & got to enjoy the broncos win!

Feeling like a slug today after circumstances kept me from running again, hopefully I can get in at least a walk & some basketball.

Well buffs got their first win, I stayed away from the house & the tv for the whole thing for sanity sake. Relaxing b4 a family bday party.

Stayed up late last night, and for my sins my children were up before 7. Sure am glad I'm just tired & not hung over too. No run today :(

Relaxing at home, getting ready for Friday night pizza & movie.

Testing Ping.FM, this will likely result in multiple Facebook updates, sorry for the feed spam.

A Miniature a Day Day 8/30 #30daychallenge #getcreative

Today's Miniature

Clan War Phoenix Clan The Nameless One

Another Clan War figure, this one is a Shugenja, the Master of Earth. The Phoenix Clan had all of these super magic users, which was part of what made them so powerful.

Since he is the Master of Earth I chose Earth tones: various shades of brown, with some other highlights. I decided to use a wash rather than dry brush to bring out the highlights, and I was happy with the results.

A miniature a day Day 7/30 #30daychallenge #getcreative

Today's Miniature

Clan War Phoenix Fire Elemental



Another Clan War figure. This was possibly my favorite unit in the game, I mean how could you not like a unit of guys that shoot fireballs like archers?

Obviously with a figure called Fire Elemental the color choice was going to Reds and Yellows. Not my strongest colors to work with. But I thought it turned out very well.

A Miniature a day Day 6/30 #30daychallenge #getcreative

Today's Miniature

Clan War Phoenix Hero

Clan War was another of my favorite games that has disappeared in the dustbin of table top history. Which was sad, because I always liked it, although that could have been as much because the army I picked (Phoenix) was one of the stronger ones, and my luck with 10 sided dice was always superior to 6 sided dice.

Anyway I went with different shades and brightnesses of blue with this figure. Trying to retrain myself on some dry brushing techniques. I thought this was a fun figure to paint. Samurai armor is always daunting, but if you take the time, and keep it simple you can still get a good looking figure.

A Miniature a Day Day 5/30 #30daychallenge #getcreative

Today's miniature

Warzone Venusian Ranger

This figure is from what is still one of the best table top miniature games ever made in my opinion. And it was figures like this that attracted my attention to the game. They are just cool miniatures.

I have tinkered with different schemes for the Rangers in the past, but went back to the traditional white body armor for this one. It is goofy if you read the background of the game that these are supposed to be the top jungle fighters, but this is how they are always depicted. So I went back to the scheme for this one.

Football thoughts #Broncos #Buffs #StlRams

Not a good weekend for the fan in me, all 3 of my teams lost. Plus I got to go to the Air Force game and watch them get pummelled. It was a good test of my ability to take losses in stride as something well beyond my control and therefore no reason to get worked up about. Here's my general thoughts on each team, based on what I have read (and watched in the first half of the Broncos game).

Colorado Buffaloes

We wanted improvement from the Hawaii game and we got it. We didn't win, but we got close. And we definitely played better. From what I have read so far the one thing this team has really developed is an ability to make half time adjustments. In both games they have had much better second halves. Which is a big change from last year, when it felt like the coaching staff just couldn't understand that basic concept. On thew other hand, it's still a rebuilding season, so there are a lot of bad habits, and a low level of talent that need to be addressed. But I at least feel optimistic that things are on the right course.

Saint Louis Rams

Not a good loss, but there are some mitigating factors that can put this in perspective. First, it's never good to lose like that at home, but like an early college football game loss, there's a real chance that loss won't seem so bad if the Eagles end up being as good as everyone expects them to be. I mean we were in the game for a while, until they just wore the Rams down (in more ways than one looking at the injury list). Second, we lost some important players, but now will be a chance to see how our depth really is. Third, while it seemed that there was a chance for the upset, that was what it would have been: an upset. Looking at the schedule it is unlikely that we will really see where this team is until after the bye.

Denver Broncos

If Broncos fans did not already curse the name of Josh McDaniels before, they really can now. Because his poor drafting, and poor management really just gutted this team of real talent. Couple that with the damage the lockout did for the new coaching staff and it's a wonder that we kept the game as close as it ended up. There were some positives, but it's going to be a long season, and I would be surprised if there isn't a continuous churn in personnel for the rest of the season. Fox, Elway & Xanders have a lot of work to do.

Overall, I had better find some other things to focus my mind on than football because if this weekend was any predictor I better get used to learning to be philosophical and taking the long term view with all of my teams. Because when the seeming best team you root for just lost 31-13 you had better not set your expectations too high.

A Miniature a Day Day 4/30 #30Daychallenge #GetCreative

Today's Miniature

Void Assault Infantry

I did 3 pictures of this, none of which turned out real well, but hopefully the 3 together give a decent idea. Here's another figure from Void, but a different type, this is more of an Space Marine type, full body armor etc. Which changed up how I approached the painting. 

I chose a different color: purple, as my primary. It was a challenge to use something different like that. I covered it with a dark wash to give it the shiny look. I was happy with the finished look.

A Miniature a Day, Day 3/30 #30DayChallenge, #GetCreative

Today's Miniature

Void Infantry

This figure is from the failed game Void. I was never really entranced by the game, it's mechanics were not very great, and it was horribly imbalanced amongst the factions. But I really liked these particular figures, thought they were cool and fun to paint.

This is an example of what my color blindness can do (or not do as the case may be). I can try to do some camouflage schemes using brown, green, red & black. But I just have to rely on the labels on the paint jar when deciding what I want to put on next in terms of color. I was pleased with the overall results though.

A Miniature a Day, Day 2/30 #Getcreative

Today's Miniature

Warhammer 40,000 Ork

Kept it deliberately rough and dirty, because that's how Ork's roll. Had some fun with this one as far as using some color, instead of my normal drab greys and blues. Although that is hard for me to do, because my Red-Green color blindness does present a challenge when I try to use Green's, Red's or combinations (Brown). I was pretty happy with this one.

Last night I got to combine 2 of my favorite things: painting miniatures and watch football. Nothing makes me feel more like a slug than just sitting and watching football, so it feels good to combine the 2.

Painting miniatures, a 30 day Project #30daychallenge Day 1/30

In the absence of feedback, none in fact :( I have decided to plow forward with a project of my choosing. Because it seems like a good challenge to take, and I want to take up the challenge thrown down by Wil Wheaton here: Get Excited and Make Things and do just that. So my goal is to upload 1 picture a day of a miniature I am painting or am in the process of painting.

I recently decided to change my approach to painting, instead of worrying about completing units etc for games I just don't play very often (if at all) I was going to focus on painting for the sake of painting. And if that means I am painting a seemingly random set of miniatures then so be it. All that being said here is my first post:

This is a Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine Terminator Captain

The paint scheme is a continuation of a scheme I have for the rest of my Space Marines, which was a Space Wolf force that I built up and played with pretty regularly many years ago. This was the figure I pulled out of the box to paint when I thought of starting this project. You can see my rustiness in painting on display here, but overall I like the result.

Looking for a challenge, plus successful restraint of addiction

Last night was the last preseason game for the Broncos, and the opening night of the college football season. Plus Kim went out with her Mom so I had the house and TV to myself. All of which in the past would have resulted in some serious overindulgence of football. But I held off, just kept apprised of scores on my phone while watching movies instead. I was very proud of myself.

A couple of my friends have been indulging in some challenges on their blogs/Facebook. Challenging themselves to post a picture/blog post a day for X number of days. I think that would be a fun challenge, but the thing for me is what to post? I don't necessarily come across a worthy picture moment every day. I sure don't paint a new figure every day (although that would certainly be a novel challenge). Another thought was a quote, be it from a TV show, movie or book. To help me decide I will write a list here of options and await feedback, I will also add a place for votes on the page.

1. Take a picture and post with a comment every day for 30 or more days.
2. Paint a miniature and post a picture of it every day.
3. Find a worthy line or quote from whatever book, TV show or movie I am watching
4. Something else (throw out the suggestions).

Make up your mind GOP, or more B.S. Hypocrisy #politics

In the last couple of weeks a story has begun to develop. The GOP candidates for President have all jumped on the '50% of Americans didn't pay taxes!' bandwagon. And they have been talking endlessly about how this isn't fair, that these people who didn't pay taxes are just free loading etc. In addition there have been rumblings that the House GOP will oppose continuing the tax cut on FICA that was enacted last year. This is a tax cut that is acting as a minor stimulus for low and middle income workers who have a little extra money in their pay checks.

On the flip side you have every major GOP candidate kissing the Pope's/Grover Norquist's ring with their pledges to oppose any raise in taxes. And they have stood steadfast in this philosophy in the face of public opinion, economic sense, and now many major businesses all pointing to and asking for increased revenue for the government.

So my question/statement is: what's to going to be GOP? Are you against all taxes, or just increases on taxes for the wealthy and major corporations? Because your stance right now seems to pretty much look like the later, the only people who should be paying low/no taxes is the wealthy and major corporations, while the poor and middle classes will be asked to foot more of the bill.

And before you get all bent out of shape with the bogus 50% number, that has already been disproved. Those people may not pay much or any Federal Income tax but they pay the majority of the bill for Social Security and Medicare, especially Social Security since there is a cap of roughly 100K that is taxed.  And then even if you want to get all specific about those people not paying Federal income tax isn't the goal of the GOP to reduce taxes?

It all boils down to the fact that the GOP is the political party of the rich and major corporations. It does not represent the poor and middle classes, and it especially does not represent the unemployed. When the immediate, gut level response of the House GOP is to oppose any jobs plan that Obama is going to propose, even before seeing it, it is clear they do not really want unemployment to go down. Because their mistaken belief in the economic confidence fairy is just stupid and dangerous for the overall economy and the majority of Americans.

Must control appetite for #football, trying hard not to overdo it already

So here we are, 1 week into preseason, and already I sense that I could very easily plunge head first into the deep end of football viewing. I only watched a half of the Broncos game, and some of the game that was on last night, but the appetite is very strong. I am going have to be very careful here, and work hard to find other things to do so at worst the game is background noise to doing something lese like playing a game, or painting.

The thing is football is not like basketball or baseball for me, I really like to watch football. I will play basketball, and if a game is on and I have absolutely nothing else to do I will watch, but I won't change my schedule around for it. And baseball is baseball, just not all that fun to watch or even follow. But football, ah I could watch kids play football (and in fact have been known to do so). But in the interest of good family health and personal mental health I must control that addiction. All of the above does not mean I won't follow it, just trying to limit the screen time, reading about it every day on the Internet is not the same.

A chance to talk about my #NFL teams, welcome relief from politics

As I noted yesterday I am so glad to be arguing about the NFL for a change instead of politics! It is a welcome relief and diversion. Of course when I mentioned to Kim last night that preseason starts a week from yesterday she gave a snort of disgust and made a comment about should she change her schedule so she is working on Sundays. I guess I can't win all the time. And obviously that's my signal that I need to watch my football rationing right off the bat.

St. Louis Rams

I think this might be the season we see an end to the Same Old Sorry Ass Rams label for a while. I am pretty excited about this team. The defense looks to be even more improved over last year, with some added talent and the young talent getting a chance to keep improving. I was worried about the fact that the team didn't go out and get the big name receiver. But they kept getting talent, and then I remembered McDaniel's track record. Except for the years with Randy Moss and Brandon Marshall he has really made his reputation building great offenses with mostly unknown receivers, and turning good receivers into great ones (see Brandon Lloyd last year). So I think that with a potentially great QB in Bradford, and a resurrected running game the passing game will greatly improve from last year.

Denver Broncos

First of all I am a Broncos fan, so I want the team to do well, regardless of who is playing. So if Orton is the starter and we are doing well and winning games I will be happy. Second, I like Tebow the person as much as if not more than Tebow the player, so he doesn't have to be the starter for me to be a fan. Given those 2 points I think the Broncos are doing the right thing in letting the more experienced player get the reps with the first team, while everyone learns a very different system. I'm a lot more concerned about the defense than I am who is starting at QB. Because that has been the missing focus of this team for way way too long, going back to the early Shanahan years. So that is what I am looking at more than anything.

I think that Tebow will become an NFL QB at some point, he just may not be ready to step into a new system this year. He was probably hurt by the lockout more than anyone else on the team. That being said, I think we have seen Orton at his best, which can be very good, but there's a limit. And for some reason at his best he still cannot win games that often. While Tebow is the kind of talent that can win games seemingly on his own. It may not always be pretty or picture perfect, but he does win. But if the Broncos want some stability now, and also want Orton's trade value to increase or remain high, he needs to play while Timmy learns and develops. I think the team is doing the smart thing and thinking long term here. If they don't have to start Tebow, why force it?

Gosh it's so nice to talk about this instead of focusing on the doom and gloom of politics for a change. I know it's a diversion, but it's good to have diversions from time to time.

Hoping against hope the Sun rises in the West tomorrow

Which is my way of saying that I hope that the 90% of professional economists who state that a government austerity plan of cutting funding with no rise in revenue will hurt the economy are wrong. I don't want the economy to get worse, I want it to get better. But the facts and views of those economists, plus historical facts, all point the opposite direction.

Is this why I voted for Obama and supported him all this time? No, I wanted a transformative President, someone who would truly stand up for the voiceless people. But that is not what we got. Instead we got yet another corporate stooge. Oh his speeches argue differently, and some of the policies of his administration seem to point differently. But when you dig into them it becomes clear that these policies were not really 'liberal' policies, they are at best Centrist interpretations. The ACA, while good intentioned, is at its heart a serious give away to the health care insurance cartel. Financial Reform didn't go nearly far enough, and is already being gutted. The 'failed stimulus' was almost 50% tax cuts, and was no where near enough actual stimulus spending. All of these point towards an Adminsitration that doesn't really believe in 'Liberal' solutions, just wants to change things a little bit, tweak them. All of which is not the actions of the dreaded Socialist Obama that the GOP likes to point to.

The best case scenario I can envision, based on what we know to be economic facts and truths, is this: the economy does not improve, but doesn't get a lot worse. And that the President, and more importantly the Progressives in Congress and running for Congress can campaign with a strategy of pointing to 2 years of a GOP 'Austerity Now' program and say: 'you had your shot, and things got worse than they were the first 2 years of the Obama presidency.' And that the people get angry enough to toss out the do nothing Conservatives and corporate stooges, and elect people who who will truly do something to help the economy, to get the government to create the Demand it needs that the corporations are not providing. I'm not going to bet on that, but that's the best case scenario I can imagine.

Worst case scenario is the economy continues in a flat line, but the Main Stream Media and corporate money get the message across that this is all Obama's fault, and Democrats fault. And the GOP takes over. The scenario in that case would be even less government spending, and a dive into a Depression as corporations flee a dying economy and dysfunctional government. Plunging the country into a dystopian corporate owned nightmare.

It was Super Hero day!

Saturday I ran in my first official 10K, finishing under an hour (57:50 officially). Afterwards I just felt so good, just wandering around the house flexing my arms etc, just feeling healthy and fit and good. All of which is a really novel experience for me. TO be honest I was pretty much the prototypical Geek/Nerd growing up. I played and enjoyed some sports, especially basketball, but had I gone to a more traditional school I would never have made the team. My preferences for entertainment were always fare more cerebral: books, TV, role playing games. And as I got older I definitely settled into that mode even more. So this new found enjoyment of physical activity and exercise is really new to me. So doing this, the running, makes me feel like a super hero.

To top that feeling Kim let me take James to see Captain America! Which was really cool. It was a good movie, I really enjoyed it. And I especially enjoyed being able to share it with James. Because I have a confession: I was never a big comic book guy. I am aware of them, and a lot of the back stories, but I am not an avid follower. So watching all of these movies with James is especially cool because I get to enjoy the stories with him for the first time rather than an after the fact sort of thing.

Then to top the day off we watched the Green Hornet when we got home. Which was a really fun rendition of the story. And a lot of fun to share with the kids as well.

So I had a full day of 'heroism', both personal, and with family. It was a great day.

It's getting close, I can sense it, I am Ready!

Smell that?

That subtle waft of chill in the air? (Well not this week maybe, but metaphorically speaking)

It's the scent of Football!

With all public signs pointing to the NFL lockout ending in a matter of days, and Fall practice on the nea horizon for Colleges it is beginning to look like the long hot terrible days of summer are coming to an end.

I tried to satisfy my time watching soccer, plus spent a lot of time with family etc. but in the end there is nothing like football for me. And I can sense that it is coming, the chance to watch modern gladiators risk life, future health and vast sums of money to entertain me & so many others.

I just want to watch some games again, I don't care if 'my teams' are playing, or even doing well, I just want to watch me some football again. And it is ever so close!

Sharing a priceless moment

The other night Emily was putting on a new nightgown she inherited from her cousins. The gown was big, reaching her toes. So she started complaining how it was too big.

Kim & I tried to reassure her it fit fine, and pointed out the Disney Princesses on the front. She wasn't buying it.

But when Dan said she looked like a Princess and got down and asked to spin around, her face just lit up, and she got the biggest smile. And everything was fine with that nightgown. Sometimes it takes the word of big bubba instead of the parents.

A weeks worth of tinkering done today #Google+ @Primadesk

Had some fun discovering some new stuff today.

1. First found this cool new web site: Primadesk

This is already a useful tool, especially on my iPhone (free App), for seeing my pictures that I have uploaded in multiple locations. It is a little limited right now, but has promise once it gets out of Beta. I will use the phone app especially right now, but once the kinks are worked out it will be even more useful because it has the promise to allow me to access all of my online files in 1 place! That's a big deal, when you have multiple e-mail addresses, multiple places for storing photo's and multiple documents (although I don't do the docs right now). So this promises to be a really great tool, and I hope it meets it's potential.

2. Got added to Google+ My Profile

I know what you're thinking, why on earth would Mike want yet another social network? Well there is the practical reason: I already have a Google profile, with 2 blogs, Buzz, Picasa etc. and it makes sense for me to get here as soon as I can to get familiar and like I always do try to integrate my platforms as quickly as possible. And the impractical part of me that just wants to tinker with the shiny new toy on the block. So here I am, add me to your circles and I will add you to mine.

Where can the liberals/progressives go when our President betrays us?

I have had this sinking feeling since last fall, that Obama just isn't the man I voted for. With every piece of news of his administration extending the Patriot Act, keeping Gitmo open, refusing to prosecute torturers I began to get a sinking feeling. But I figured that this was not a priority, and why rile the public with what in some ways are just P.R. things?

Then I read Griftopia, particularly the section on Health Care. I strongly recommend everyone read the book, but that chapter made me sick. When I was forced to accept that fact that Health Care Reform was essentially a give away to the big insurance companies I was not happy. But I could still argue that while we didn't get what we should, we did get what was possible, and ti would still be far better than the current system.

Then came the tax cut fight, with a lame duck Congress that still had a Democrat majority. Here is where a truly Liberal President would have steadfastly refused to sign any extension, knowing that doing so was purely a concession to the GOP and the rich. But again Obama let things go. And again, I could concede that maybe the economy didn't need what was in effect a raise in taxes at that time, so I still defended Obama's actions, but in my heart of hearts I was starting to feel doubt.

And now we have the debt limit fight. And the way the GOP is playing it's hand makes it a P.R. slam dunk for a fighting Progressive President. It should be easy to make every chance in public be a chance to hammer at the GOP for refusing to bring any tax increase to the table in attempts to reduce the deficit, particularly at a time when every poll shows that a majority of Americans believe that a tax increase on the rich is necessary. Instead we have the gradual, slow giving in to the GOP demands. At this time it looks more and more like Obama is putting everything that he swears he believes in about caring for the poor, the sick and the elderly on the table. And if that ends up being the deal, I will have to give up, betrayed by a Democrat President who doesn't care about the actual voters. Who in the end only cares about and listens to wealthy financiers who can pay for his next election.

I don't want that to happen, and I have some idea that maybe this is all part of some elaborate long term con where he insures his re-election, and hopes for enough anger at the GOP to give him back full control of Congress so that he can really implement a Progressive agenda. But I don't believe that's the case. I think he, and pretty much every national politician, is so in thrall to big money, that there is no real chance for real change. The level of betrayal I feel at this point is the same I felt during the Bush-Clinton campaign, when I saw some truly horrendous ads on the part of the Bush campaign, that was the tipping point that pushed me out of the Republican party. And if this all goes like it looks it will it will be the tipping point that pushes me out of the Democratic party, and back to voting straight third party ticket whenever I have the chance.

My great new #Kindle is already modifying my reading habits

The wealth of interesting free options out there for books is amazing. And already I am seeing an effect on my reading habits. I'm not buying more books (which I thought I might do), but I am also not feeling so pressed to read entire books that I get either.

A certain number of years ago I was a sucker for buying books, I had a bad habit, either in used bookstores or even regular book stores. I love to read, and I would buy books that looked interesting and then read them, and then leave them on the shelf, because you never know I might want to read them again. Even if I rarely did. This led to my amassing a rather large and unwieldy library. And regular purges and yard sales or Goodwill trips.

Then I woke up and started going to the library. This was much better, I didn't end up with a huge book collection. But, I had to go to the library pretty regularly. And if I got a book that I wanted and it took a while to read there was a chance I might not finish in time before I had to return it or face fines. So when I got a book that book became my focus, I had to read just that one book (given my limited reading time) in order to finish them.

Now I have my Kindle and I am in a combination of the above 2 situations. Given the wealth of free resources out there, and the fact that that is increasing all the time, I can get a lot of books. Which leads to my amassing a large library again. Only this time it is not using up bookshelf space, and if I decide I don't want the book it is easy to remove. But when I get a bunch of books I don't feel pressured to rush through them like I did with the library books. It is perfectly okay for me to read a little from one book, and then swap it for another, knowing I can go back when I feel like it. It has really become the best of both worlds, which will only get enhanced when the options to get e-books from the library arrive. And won't Kim be happy when I can start purging my existing bookshelf as I slowly replace the books with electronic versions?

I am glad I waited for the e-readers to become 'affordable', but I am even more glad that I have joined the future with this wonderful technology.

Enjoying my new toy #kindle & loving living in the future

For Father's Day I received a new Kindle. For those of you who are not familiar, a Kindle is Amazon's E-Reader. I had been thinking about e-readers for some time now. One of my big limitations and reasons I had not jumped into the e-reader area was that not all e-readers worked with libraries. And libraries really only offer a portion of their books as e-books. So getting an e-reader meant that I would be buying some books, something that I honestly kind of abhor. But the more I thought about it, and the more I read I came to a realization that this was the way of the world. And eventually any new book I might want would be available as an e-book. Then the capper was Amazon's announcement that it would be joining with the company that provides most libraries with e-book software, so some time this year that big obstacle would disappear. And the other obstacle: not all books available as e-books, feels like it will disappear the same way obstacles like not all albums were available on CD, and then not all songs could be found on iTunes etc. do drop in some fashion or another.

Given all of the above, when Kim asked what I wanted for Fathers Day I said I wanted a Kindle. I made it clear that there were other less expensive things, but she must have decided that I was such a great Father that I deserved what I wanted. Thanks Kim, I love my new 'toy'!

Today I have downloaded about 5 free books from Amazon, plus sent myself 3 PDF files that I had saved on my computer, and received 6 other books from a friend. I have lots to read now! And it is so nice to now have a good selection and variety at my fingertips, if I want to look up something about basic GURPS, or Jediism, or a quote from Kipling it's all right there on the device. If I am reading a new book, and am struck by a great line I can just click a couple of buttons and bam, it is shared on Twitter & Facebook! This is all so cool, as Wil Wheaton says: 'I love living in the future!'

Look for me to share more about my reading now as I find it easier to do so using this new tool. And if you are someone who is looking for something to buy for me (the guy who has everything he could ever really needs) then Amazon gift certificates are now a very good option.

Tax Cuts do not worsen the economy, read your history GOP deniers

The modern GOP is acting more and more like a child who will tell a parent "I didn't do it" while wearing muddy shoes and being asked who tracked mud in the house. You have the Birthers, the climate change deniers, but the most dangerous are the tax cut crusaders.

Again and again, when the GOP clamors for control of the deficit, they will simultaneously refuse to consider any tax increases. They claim that increasing taxes in any form will destroy the economy. And again and again they invoke 'Saint Reagan' and say that his tax cuts alone were the cause of the 1980's boom. And they will claim that this mythical figure never ever raised taxes.

Point 1, Reagan did in fact raise taxes, in fact doing so more of his years in office than he did cut taxes:

Here is an article written by a member of Reagan's Treasury department, below are the most startling quotes:

Reagan may have resisted calls for tax increases, but he ultimately supported them. In 1982 alone, he signed into law not one but two major tax increases. The Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act (TEFRA) raised taxes by $37.5 billion per year and the Highway Revenue Act raised the gasoline tax by another $3.3 billion.



According to a recent Treasury Department study, TEFRA alone raised taxes by almost 1 percent of the gross domestic product, making it the largest peacetime tax increase in American history. An increase of similar magnitude today would raise more than $100 billion per year.

Another startling point:

According to a table in the 1990 budget, the net effect of all these tax increases was to raise taxes by $164 billion in 1992, or 2.6 percent of GDP. This is equivalent to almost $300 billion in today's economy.

So Reagan did in fact raise taxes (or agreed to do so), even in 1982 when the country was still in the grips of a recession, and amazingly enough the economy did get better! So raising taxes did not cause the Recession to worse, in fact it did the opposite.

Point 2: That the government shrunk under Reagan, only Democrats make the government bigger.

Here I refer to David Stockman, Reagan's Budget Director

The wrong lesson was taken from the 1980s. We didn't cut back government at all; government got bigger. We didn't reduce the tax burden, we just avoided increases. But the conclusion was drawn that there was a great prosperity in the 1980s due to the Reagan tax cut. I don't believe that at all. I believe that the expansion that we had for a few years was due to the fact that Paul Volcker's Fed crushed inflation

Point 3: Tax cuts will inherently damage the productivity and the economy, let's compare the last 3 decades:

 In 2008, Paul Krugman adjusted for both inflation and population growth, to try to figure out the per-capita tax revenue increase for each decade since Reagan, and found something even more enlightening. Real revenues per capita rose 19 percent from 1980-1988. From 1992-2000, real revenues per capita rose 41 percent -- after tax hikes by both George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton! And the numbers for George W. Bush? Pure disaster

The facts speak for themselves, tax increases do not worsen the economy, and in fact the 2 times we had increases at the tail end or just after a recession the economy boomed. So while we cannot directly say that the tax increases caused the boom I believe that the historical record proves that a tax increase will definitely not hurt the economy. So do not listen to these GOP deniers, they are tools of the big money corporations and billionaires who just want to avoid paying more taxes.

America needs to get out of the house and airports and take a road trip

One of the things about taking the car for our vacation is that it gave me the opportunity to really see parts of the country, parts that you would never see otherwise. Small towns, towns that you may just drive through, some you stop in to get gas or food or both. See the farms and ranches, the places where people really work. And seeing all that gave me an even greater appreciation and understanding of how bad things are in this country.

We saw an odd dichotomy on our trip. One day we were in small town Texas, where most of the buildings on the main drive are abandoned, empty. Where people struggle to make ends meet, working as painters, plumbers, framers, and grocery clerks, living in small run down houses, eating the food from the gardens because it is the cheapest way to eat. The next day we were in a mall in an upscale suburb of Dallas-Fort Worth, watching families splurge on taking their kids to a Lego theme store.

While there were places like that Lego store, it felt like for every place like that I saw 3 or 4 abandoned, closed businesses. And on the drive I saw a part of the country suffering through it's worst drought in 50+ years. We saw some scorched land, and 2 days after we got back the highway we drove on was shut down by a wildfire. And the highways, while they were generally maintained, were definitely showing signs of wear and tear, and there were not a lot of road crews at work.

I think it is easy to get a feeling that things aren't really all that bad when you never leave the house. Learn about new vacation spots from cable TV, watch people remodel homes, and the only disasters you are aware of are ones that make the evening news. And you can get the same thing if you when you travel you only take the plane, and fly over all those areas that are suffering.

I think that is what our country is missing right now. People are only getting their knowledge of the country from cable TV, and when they travel they spend their time in just the nice areas. A great example of this was in San Antonio, we were in downtown, saw the Alamo, then took a short walk on the River Walk, and if you stayed there you would have thought the economy was going great guns. But if you walked 3 blocks away you ran into run down, abandoned buildings.

So before you think that the greatest problems facing this country are the Federal Deficit, Gay Marriage, and Congressmen who can't control their urges on the Internet, get out of your house, get in your car and leave your pleasant little suburb, and see what is really happening. There are far bigger problems out there, but we as a country will only ever tackle them if we accept and see them instead of ignoring them. We can have a set of priorities where we spend $300 on a kids birthday party while at the same time just covering our broken windows with cardboard. Or we can fix the windows first, and just serve cupcakes in the park. It's a question of priorities, and who we listen to and see.

FreeRangeGeek Daily

Here's a cool little thing. I just added to my blog on the left side. What this is is a web page that aggregates the articles that come from the Twitter feeds I follow. The actual link to the full page is here:

http://paper.li/freerangegeek/1307043817

By going to the page it shows, in a newspaper like format, all the articles that people I follow have posted on Twitter. Sorted by article type. It's actually a pretty cool aggregator, handy for me, but also fun to see what I am interested in as well.

Tricks for kids reading, TV season end thoughts, NBA playoff commentary

Kid's Reading

Out of the many books I picked up for James at the library the other day James finally settled on one that he really wants to read, a Star Wars book. Which gives me the idea that if that is what the boy wants, if that is what he will read then by all means that's what I will get him. So I picked up more Star Wars books from the library this past weekend, and will just keep loading him up.

TV Watching

With all of our regular shows done for the season it is time for a break from the evening TV. Which happily comes at about the same time as our family vacation. I am of two minds on our TV watching. On the one hand, my fathers influence tells me that all the TV time is not a good use of my time, and it would be better if I spent my evenings doing something else. On the other hand, watching our shows is very much something Kim & I enjoy doing together. So we watch the shows, but I can tell you that I rarely miss it when we miss those shows or something distracts me.

NBA Playoffs

Watched bits and pieces of the first game of the championship last night, saw enough to think that Dallas might be in trouble unless they can remember how to shoot. Because the other parts of the game were dominated by Miami. I feel bad for Dirk and Kidd, but they just have bad timing (again). At least this one doesn't look like it will be decided by officiating. Either way, from what I saw, I haven't missed much in the way of what I think of as entertaining basketball. In fact it was nice to spend Memorial day not caring about sports. Except for watching the UEFA Championship, now that was entertaining! And watching Messi play soccer is about as close as we can get these days to watching say the Showtime Lakers or one of the truly great NFL running backs, that sense that you could see something amazing at any time, and that you are afraid to look away. Which is something that you won't feel in these NBA Finals.

Interesting new diversion: #Quora and gathering knowledge

I read an interesting article in my latest Wired magazine about a new web site called Quora. The article helps spell out what the site is in more detail. A quick summary is that it is a way to gather knowledge in a more coherent, crowd sourced question & answer format.

I have only really been on there for a week or so, and I haven't done a lot of answers yet. And so far none of my answers has been voted up or down. I don't think it is all that popular yet, so I wanted to spread the word. I do think this has a lot of potential, as it has the ability to merge the crowd sourcing of a Web Forum, with the Q & A format of Google, and a Yahoo Answers.

I have set it up so that when I respond to a question the question will be posted as a link on Twitter, and I have the ability to also link on my Tumblr, although I will probably only do so for threads where the question and answers are more developed.

Celebrating the best decision of my life, Happy Anniversary Kim!

13 years ago today I got up, went for a short swim, tgot showered, shaved and cleaned up. Grabbed my tuxedo, and headed to the church where the most wonderful thing happened.

I got to marry the most wonderful woman I know!

And 13 years later I celebrate that day with even more fervor than the actual day.

Here's to you Kimmy, my Goofygirl, and looking forward to many, many more years.



Getting a handle on what to teach James

Yesterday I came across this great little blog post: The future of the library

It really made me think, while I really want James to just be happy, and excel in areas where he enjoys what he is doing, what tools can I provide him to help with that? The biggest worry I have over him is his reading, but I sometimes think that is because he just hasn't found something he wants to read yet.

But this article made me think about some new tools I can teach him over the summer (or he can teach himself) that will help him, and get him to read at the same time. The thing is he loves to work on the computer, albeit mostly playing games, but he also likes to browse around YouTube etc. for Lego stuff and Star Wars stuff. This article has inspired me to try to find some time to sit down with James and start teaching him some things about researching the web. That way he can get to places where he really find what he is interested in, and the by product will be reading, lots of it. I know that an awful lot of my reading when I was his age was history books because I wanted to learn more about all the little army men I was playing with.

In addition I will get a good kids typing program that he can work with, one that will make a game out of it, to teach him to type. Because if he is going to spend as much time on the computer going forward as I expect he will, typing will become an essential skill.

That's my latest plan for the summer for James: turn him into an internet research hound, and learn to type.

Wheel of TIme gradually spinning to a close

So I have been slogging my way through this series (which I first started reading when I was still living in Boulder about 20 some years ago). And it looks like the end is in sight. I have 1 more book from my bookshelf, then the most recent release from the library. And about the time I come close to finishing those the newest, and last, book will be almost available. This has sure been a long haul.

But I am glad I put myself through the ringer of re-reading the entire series again as a run up to the finish. I am finding so many clues and little things that I glossed over or failed to notice the first time I read the books. It truly is an epic series and a fabulous story. And when it is all said and done I will be glad to own the series to maybe read through at least 1 more time in lifetime.

I am not sure I could say that about many of the other series I have read. Which makes me glad that I kicked the book purchasing habit a while back. It is just too expensive to start a series and then decide not to finish it, when you buy all of the books.

How come no politician ever runs for office to help the poor any more?

Every candidate these days talks about helping the Middle Class, and business, bringing business to create jobs (and of course the joke that is Cutting Taxes). What happened to politicians standing up for the 'little man'? No one even pretends to do so any more. As a member of the Middle Class (but on the lower end of that scale) I don't mind having a politician looking out for my interests.

But what happened to people who ran for office to help out the poor, the unrepresented? The people who ran for office with the goal to save the people from Big Business? At a time when both big political parties are in thrall to big money I understand it would be hard. But we still ostensibly live in a democracy, and while it does take some amount of money to get noticed I wonder where are the candidates of the poor, using the power of the New Media?

Because like it or not, with the reality being that our economic class structure looking more and more like a V and less like the old bell curve, there are more and more people on the lower end of the ladder. And with the dissolution of the old ways for them to gain political voice they are in danger of getting unrepresented. And while the Tea Partiers love to wave the old 'no taxation without representation' flag, it isn't the rich, and the corporations that are lacking representation, it's the people who work for a living that are losing their political voice.

I say that the time is coming soon, if things don't reverse course, when that large group of people will find their voice. And the people in power today have two options: make sure that when that voice is found that it has something good to say, or ignore those people and prepare for that voice to become very angry.

I am not preaching revolution, I think that the best, luckiest thing for this country has been it's ability to wake up at opportune moments and incorporate the right changes that keep us from needing that revolution. But when the leading 'thinkers' of one major political party are doing their best to unravel the very safety net that has kept us from that revolution you have to wonder if they really know what they are doing.

Accepting loss, with the proper detachment #LALakers #NBAplayoffs

I can say with a straight face today that I am completely content with the fact that the Lakers lost yesterday, got swept, and we have most likely seen the end of this era of Laker championships. There are a couple of reasons I can say that. First, I haven't watched a complete game of NBA basketball this entire season and playoffs, and have pretty much intentionally avoided getting caught up in watching my beloved Lakers on TV. Second, while the way they lost (swept, totally losing their cool in the final game blowout) may have sucked the bottom line is they were back to back defending champions and like death & taxes the only certainty of sports is that everyone loses eventually. Third, with as exciting as the playoffs have supposedly been won't it be better to usher in a new champion than to have it all end with a third straight?

I stated after the football seasons ended that I wasn't going to let basketball take over my life, and I succeeded in that goal. I haven't watched a game of the NBA this season, and unless there is a truly unique and interesting matchup in the Finals I probably won't watch any then. This was part of my overall goal of trying to break my emotional attachments to sports. And basketball is such a roller coaster that it is easy to get caught up and get riled up. So I can pronounce this phase of this process successfully complete.

One of my favorite Bill Simmon's lines is that once your team wins a championship you as a fan should give them a 5 year grace period from getting so upset when they lose or do dumb things etc. And defending back to back championships puts the Lakers well into that honeymoon territory. Plus, look at the 'mileage' the teams best players have logged over the past couple of seasons: Kobe, Gasol, Odom, Bynum, Fisher all played in 3 straight Finals series. Kobe, Gasol, Odom also played for their national teams during the Olympics and World Championships. Thats a lot of playing time in a relatively short time, and in the case of Kobe and Fisher that's on top of a long career with 4 other Finals appearances. And when it is all said and done if Kobe gets to say he has 5 rings, plus 2 other Finals appearances on top of everything else that's an astounding Top 5 career. And every great team ends it's string eventually, players age, other teams get better, etc. it's inevitable, like I said about death & taxes.

Last, one of the great things about sports is that when one great champion ends another can appear, or (often even better) a string of competitive new teams competes every year. That is what makes football so great, there are almost no repeat championships any more, and to be honest that is what the NBA lacks. It has been nice for my team to have all of those rings. But it's not as good for the league overall to have a couple of teams dominate, new blood is essential to keep fans interested.

For all of the above reasons I am not the sad man I would have been in past years after the Lakers got stomped like a Narc at a biker rally.

A thoroughly well rounded weekend: soccer, computer games & miniatures

I had my role playing game Friday night, as my beginning to the weekend. It went well, actually played instead of sat around chatting for once. Not that I mind the social interaction, but I prefer to play the game when that is what I was there for. But this is not about me, it's about the kids, specifically James. Some times I worry that he is getting too wrapped up in his computer games, too focused. So I try to find chances to break him out of that, and I think this last weekend was pretty successful.

Saturday was a relaxed day at home in the morning, and I kind of monopolized the computer, which is my right as the dad. So James was forced to do other things, and he spent most of his time watching cartoons and playing with his Lego's. Then it was off to soccer. James enjoys soccer, but I think it is as much because he enjoys being with other kids, not as much because he loves the sport itself per se. I don't see him just going out and dribbling the ball, or practicing kicking it into the net, or setting up pick up games with his friends. And that's okay, he's good, but that's as much because he is smart and has been playing a long time. So he knows where he is supposed to be and will go there.

The rest of the day, after returning from shopping, James got to pretty much do computer games and other games to his heart's content. Sunday was a different story, Sunday I pulled out and set up the Heroscape set one of my friends gave me.

Heroscape is a kind of miniature table top war gaming entry drug. The figures are decent quality, pre-painted. The basic game play is quite easy to understand and pick up, we even taught Daniel the basics so he could join in. But it has an advanced level of play that I look forward to teaching James, and the collector kind of interest, so someone can really go hog wild if they want. Here are a couple of pictures:

This is a basic game board set up. The board is a kind of free form hex set that can be modified and moved around to create all kinds of combinations. And you can create levels and a 3-D type of feel to the terrain by stacking the terrain. So it's pretty cool for those effects.

Here are James and Daniel playing. As I said the basic game play is simple enough for Daniel to play with a little help. And the joy he got when his dice rolls succeeded were worth more for me than the downside of his tearing up when one of his guys got killed. James took the basics really quick, and seemed to really enjoy it. So I can see us playing again, him possibly playing with Daniel, and maybe even teaching his friends when they come over.

In the midst of all this I also have become a little concerned that James is not reading as much, or at least up to his level. So I sat down with him and talked about it. Then told him to have at the library in his room, pick a book and read it. And I implemented a mandatory 30 minute reading time prior to bed every night as a new general rule. I gave him one of my Shadowrun books as a test, but while he seems interested I don' think he's quite there yet. That, plus he is more interested in the non-fiction books right now.

Overall a pretty successful weekend as far as enhancing the all around development of James. And he did tell me yesterday on the way to school that he was ready to go back to the summer hours: TV & computer get shut off at 10:00AM, and cannot be turned back on until 6:00PM. So that's a bonus there.

Every day brings another crazy weather story, reminding me of this novel

Heavy Weather

by Bruce Sterling

Here's the Wikipedia Description:

Set in the year 2031, Heavy Weather depicts a world where mankind has unbalanced the world's ecosystem with their continuing production of greenhouse gases and unchecked expansion. As a result, the weather has become unpredictable and dangerous. Powerful storms routinely leave trails of devastation in their wake. Alex Unger, a young man suffering from numerous medical problems, is liberated from an illegal Mexican clinic by his sister Janey and brought back to America to her group of friends and colleagues, the Storm Troupe. The Troupe are dedicated and knowledgeable storm chasers who use high technology to document and research the weather, led by Janey's lover, the charismatic and brilliant scientist Jerry Mulcahey. They are preparing to meet an F-6, a storm of truly monstrous proportions.

And every day this year has felt more and more like this story is becoming that much closer to real. It's just been nuts. As I sit here, 4 days from May, watching it snow outside, while tornadoes are killing people across the country, and rivers in the Midwest are breaking through levees. And yet, despite all of this, there are people who refuse to accept that Climate Change is real, to the point of passing bills in Congress denying it's existence. Like nature gives a damn about a bill in Congress or a state legislature. I really think that this is the future in our world, like it or not, and it would behoove us to do as many smart things as we can to be prepared for extreme weather effects. I doubt we can reverse it, or even minimize it. It would be smarter to invest in technology that can help us adjust to this world.

Why I love Medicare & Medicaid and hate the #GOPwaronthepoor

I'm going to make this as simple and personal as possible in the hopes that maybe someone out there will understand just what the government can do and has done for poor people in this country, instead of picturing government as just aiding and abetting a bunch of free loading welfare queens.

My nephew was born about 14 years ago. When he was born to his teen mom the plan was to place him on his grandmothers health insurance, insurance she received from her employer. He was born with a hypo plastic left heart, which necessitated a heart transplant at less than a month old. However, the private insurer decided that his birth defect was a 'pre-existing condition' and therefore they would not cover the operation and any subsequent health issues.

Medicaid stepped in and paid for the operation and has paid for the millions of dollars worth of care he has received since then. I was reminded of this on Friday as he went in for his regular check up, where they detected an arrhythmia and immediately sent him into exploratory surgery to find out what was causing it. (Nothing was found by the way.) All of this care was provided by Medicaid and wonderful doctors and such. None of this care is provided by private insurance. If it was up to private insurers he would have just been left to die peacefully as a baby.

Now the G.O.P. has passed a budget plan that, among other things, wants to change the funding of medicaid entirely, making it a block grant to the states to spend how they wish. This would effectively end medicaid for large swaths of poor and disabled people when states run out of funds (like now). Leaving it up to private insurers to supposedly take up the slack, which they clearly will not do.

That is the G.O.P. response to the Affordable Care Act. Among other things the Affordable Care Act has made what that private insurer did illegal, they can no longer refuse coverage based on a 'pre-existing condidtion'. That is the type of law that the G.O.P. Congress voted to repeal.

I think you can't get any more simple contrast: One party wants to help poor people and protect them from the whims of private companies, and be there when there is a need for a safety net. The other party would leave things entirely in the hands of private insurers and just let the market do what it's supposed to do, and if that means that poor people don't get coverage, or their coverage falls short or fall in a loophole, that's just too bad.

How to re-engage the body politic?

So I am reading a different Matt Taibbi book: The Great Derangement and it has got me thinking. How can we as citizens get our fellow citizens back into the body politic so we can regain the government we really want?

1. Congress, State Houses, Governors and even the President are at best captive to big interests and big money. At worst they are willing collaborators in a system where real change is just not going to happen. As long as roughly 70% of Americans do not really have a voice in the day to day operations of government how can we expect that government to respond to our wishes? Our elected representatives do not truly hear the 'voice of the people'. Oh there are polls after polls out there, and the politicians can speak out about those poll results, and give voice showing support for whatever position those polls show. But realistically that is talk, not action.

2. When the leading contender on polls for a major party is a reality TV star with seriously questionable credentials as a businessman you have to question those polls. Especially when that figures single biggest issue that he has spoken out about is to question a simple fact that has been proven over and over and over to the satisfaction of every legal level in the land. Truly the whole Birther issue makes any of the many other 'hot button' faked issues that have occurred before pale in comparison. And yet the main stream media, and the internet stream media and the polls make this issue a huge deal. This is how you kill democracy.

3. How do you get people to get active, and actually do something about the real issues, and hold their representatives accountable for them when this is the big topic? That is a major distraction, and while I don't believe there is some conspiracy out there saying: "Let's distract the voters by questioning the veracity of legal documents so they don't realize what is really happening." That has become the end result. And really all of the big 2 party arguments are more often than not about this level of actions, just distractions.

4. The real questions and issues that people should be asking and demanding action from their representatives are: where are the jobs, how are you going to end a cycle of near 2 digit unemployment? How are my children going to get educated when education has become a sinkhole and scapegoat profession? What is being done to keep highways, bridges, other major infrastructure from disintegrating before our eyes? Why has no one been held accountable and served actual time in prison for a systematic fraud that nearly destroyed the worldwide economy? Why are we bankrupting our country paying for 3 wars while simultaneously allowing Congress and State governments to strip a regulatory system that has served to keep our people, workers and environment safe for over half a century?

5. I don't have a simple answer to any of the above questions but I think that until we stop letting ourselves be distracted by non-issues, and reality TV stars masquerading as political figures, and accept as gospel economic theories that have been proven wrong both in theory and in practical fact for the last 30+ years we will not see an end to this.

6. So I say it is time to stand up and demand better. Demand real answers from politicians not platitudes. Ask hard questions. Educate yourself about those things that matter to you and don't rely on the media. Because the media is feeding us those distractions, not overtly at the wishes of some shadowy conspiracy, but because we allow them to do so.

Justified gives a redneck Fredo moment, and impending war

What a cool show, and another strong episode. You can almost see Raylan pondering his escape, not realizing that at the exact same moment all of the elements that will force him to remain in Harlan accelerating in momentum. You have Boyd deciding to resume his criminal career, retaking all that his Daddy once controlled. And you have the Bennett's family feud which has all the potential of blowing up. And you just know that all of this will erupt in the kind of war that only Raylan will be able to sort out and finish.

Along the way in this episode you had a classic redneck reinterpretation of the Godfather 'you went against the family, you never go against the family scene'. When Mags delivered that line it was just classic, 'you are not a part of the family any more'. And of course now Mags is set up for another visitation of the 'just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in' scene.

And watching Boyd's mind spin as he sits and lets Dickie Bennett talk big about being in control just tells you that someone bit off more than they can chew, and it sure as hell wasn't Boyd.

The big question of course is who the hell sent those gunmen after Raylan? He clearly didn't recognize them in his classic scene ('I'm out of sorts from shooting and killing a man 3 days ago, so why don't you just drive a different direction?) And I doubt Mags or Boyd would hire someone to take him out at this point. Actually I don't think they were after Raylan, I think they were after Winona. Follow me on this, we know Gary is back in cahoots with the Dixie Mafia guy. And we know that Gary needs money. And when the divorce settlement involves a big argument over insurance, then you know where that is leading. Of course if that means the Dixie Mafia has decided to tip it's toe back in Harlan that cannot bode well for anyone.

God I love all of this, it's like a cross of the Soprano's, Deadwood, with some Deliverance mixed in for color.

Where I am on the web and easy way to keep track of it all

I imagine that a few of you are a little confused these days. It used to be simple to keep track of me, I had 1 blog, under various names, but just the one URL. And for a while even I was e-mailing new posts to people when I wrote them. And I even used to just have my posts appear in Facebook as Notes. So it was easy. But I am not one to keep things the same, I cannot resist the urge to tinker. And on top of that the reality is that I write about lots of different things, and not all of my readers care about all of them.


So I started branching out, first creating a second blog, then dropped that, then branched out to Tumblr. Then in the last month I created a Google Site for the family web page, then resurrected my second blog. Here’s a summary of where I am at now and generally what you can expect at each location:

Family Web Site

https://sites.google.com/site/ruchnewland/

I keep up a blog here that is strictly devoted to family news. I don’t delve into politics, talk about games or sports except for the ones the kids play. There is an option to subscribe to the blog so you can see the updates in a reader form like Google Reader, as well as just receive the updates via e-mail using FeedBurner.

Mike’s World

http://mikesworld-miker.blogspot.com/

This is my training blog. Where I write about my running, and strength training. And occasionally delve into things like nutrition. And last I will use this site for my political posts/rants. There is an option to subscribe to the blog as well so you can see the updates in a reader form like Google Reader, as well as just receive the updates via e-mail using FeedBurner.

FreeRangeGeek

http://freerangegeek.blogspot.com/

This is my blog for things like role playing games, miniatures, movies, television shows, books, and sports. Basically my hobbies and interests outside of physical achievements and politics. Like the others, there is an option to subscribe to the blog as well so you can see the updates in a reader form like Google Reader, as well as just receive the updates via e-mail using FeedBurner.


I have set up Feedburner to update my Twitter (@freerangegeek) and Facebook feeds when I update the later 2 blogs, and use bit.ly to create similar links when I update the Family blog. So you can try to hit 3 different sites, or just watch my Twitter and Facebook feeds, or use the RSS feeds to keep up to date on all 3 sites. I am going to go ahead and post this on all 3 sites (sorry for the duplication) to make sure the message gets out. Thanks for the patience if you do follow, and even more if you don’t and get tired of all the links that you just ignore.

Refusing to let the NBA go Godfather III on me

With the sports world in a serious dead time the NBA playoffs are just about to start. I used to love to watch the NBA, and I am a big LA Lakers fan (dating back to the Showtime and Magic Johnson days). But starting a couple of years ago I reached a point where the NBA slowly became unwatchable. There were 3 factors: my trying hard to watch less sports on TV, the games changing into a kind of boring blob of interchangeable parts, and knowing that the Lakers are defending back to back.

I have been trying hard to de-emphasize TV sports for a while now. With differing success of course. It's easier to ignore basketball than football, just because I like to watch football at pretty much any level, while basketball can be hard to watch without a lot of factors being involved. And part of that is when my team is on, I can become pretty unbearable to be around, and that's not fair for my family, and not healthy for me. So the smart thing is to break that viewing habit, and try to focus on other things.

The more I watch the NBA lately the more it feels like all the teams are pretty much interchangeable. It is no longer a matter of the teams having distinct personalities that the players adopt. Instead it is the players that create the team's personality. And that gets pretty boring, especially when it feels like 8 guys standing around watching 2 go 1 on1. I know that isn't all that is happening, that there is a lot there that doesn't meet the eye. But to someone who has gradually become a casual fan of most teams that is what it looks like.

Last, I know that I am being a little spoiled, but I might not feel this way if the Lakers had not been in the last 3 Finals series, and won the last 2. On the other hand, I am not even sure I could bring myself to watch much of the Lakers playoff games any more, it's just not that much fun to watch.

My goal is to let the playoffs go and not watch any games, just follow the scores and stories on the web. Which should be relatively easy to do as there are not a lot of big gatherings in the near future where people will want the games on in the back ground. I'm going to try, I won't say it will be easy, and there's a possibility of:

"Just when I thought I was out, they drag me back in"

Today I come to speak of Justified, favorite writers and dialogue

Last night I got to catch up with my second or third favorite show on television (since Friday Night Lights is about to air it's final season it still counts, but only partially). And to try and explain what it is about the show, and similar shows and movies that I love so much.

The show is Justified, a show on late night F/X network. It's centered on a U.S. Marshal who has returned to his home town in Kentucky and the various adventures and misadventures he encounters there. It stars one of my new favorite actors: Tim Olyphant. And is loosely based on a character and book written by Elmore Leonard.

There are 2 things I really like about the show, and also the books of Elmore Leonard: dialogue and real people and criminals. First, the dialogue in the show and the books is just great. It may bare little relation to how a lot of people talk. But that's okay, because it is the dialogue that draws me in. My absolute favorite line so far this season:

"I'm not afraid of heights, snakes or red-headed women"

Just a great tag line. Much of the talk and dialogue in the show is like that, eloquent but in a round about way. People using a lot of big words, but using them in such a way that it doesn't seem like they are actually educated. And all spoke with very authentic, slow Kentucky accents. It's just a joy to listen to, and appreciate how the characters interact.

Which brings me to the second part, and this is the element of all of Leonard's books and shows and movies based on his work that I love best of all. The people, and especially the criminals are very true to life. They can seem very smart and cunning, but in reality more often than not they are just making thing up as they go along, and the most common response to any problem is violence. And the total lack of self awareness is especially true. When a character is faced with a problem often as a result of their own behavior and choices their response is never 'oh I screwed up, that's why this bad thing happened' instead it's always someone else's fault. And like it or not that is a far more common response by people than you might want to think.

While the show is violent, and the language can get very real and profane I would recommend it to anyone who can get past those elements. Again, not for everyone, but if you like your characters heroic but flawed, and your criminals with plenty of gray to them, this is the show for you.

Reactivating this blog

Decided to try and make things a little easier for those who follow me. My other blog: Mike's World will continue to focus on me, my running, training, weight loss, with occasionally foraying into politics. This blog is where things I had been posting to Tumblr will go: gaming, sports, other geekier interests.

I just have grown a little dissatisfied with Tumblr and it's limitations for blogging and linking things. It's great for the occasional short post, and random web links, but this is easier for actually writing in.

What are the best options for a kid's (9 y.o.) desire for his own web site?

Last night James stated that he wants his own web site. And I figure it’s about time to bring him into the online world officially. But the big question becomes how? What are the best options for this? There are a lot of things to consider:

1. What conditions and requirements? I already told him that when I set this up there will be a contract for him to sign, just like his home work contract. It will contain things like:

•While he will have his own e-mail address and web site he will not be allowed to change the password, I will always know what that is.
•He cannot give out his e-mail address online without consulting me first.
•He cannot sign himself up on any web sites without first consulting me or Kim.
•I will have a say in what sort of things he posts, not so much final control, but more of an ability to look at it, and tell him to take down things he shouldn’t have.

2. What is the best option for the actual web site? There are a number of different choices out there. My inclination is that I will probably end up just setting him up on Google, with GMail, and blogspot etc. Just to keep things simple (one account, one password).

3. What is he going to post there? He says he wants a place to post pictures of his Lego stuff, and possibly other things.