irregular_comic:

http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/2527.html

Today's theme: Steve and Terry

darthsanddroids:

http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0354.html

sjgames:

http://www.sjgames.com/ill/archives.html?m=December&y=2009&d=27

In 2008, our big GURPS hardcover release was GURPS Thaumatology, which expanded the possibilities and options of the GURPS magic system.</p>

Of course, it always takes time for new options to be fully assimilated by our authors (and the fans!). So it's not surprising that a surge of supplements building off of GURPS Thaumatology arrived during 2009.</p>

Here, then, are the four expansions from e23 that tie into GURPS Thaumatology:</p>

• GURPS Thaumatology: Magical Styles -- Sean Punch's take on designing methods of magic used by guilds, schools, secret societies, etc. Discover Magic Perks available only to wizards!
• GURPS Thaumatology: Alchemical Baroque -- Phil Masters' setting that combines an age of exploration with fantastic fairy-tale trappings.
• GURPS Thaumatology: Urban Magics -- Bill Stoddard's exploration of the use and abuse of magic in cities. Discover mana-powered transport, urban divination, sacred architecture, and magical utilities!
• Pyramid #3/13: Thaumatology -- Containing a full treatment of fairy-tale magic, an alternate form of magical healing, the all-too-creepy rituals of Red Diabolism, and much more.

And because it was released back in 2008, we're not going to mention the pulp-magic superhero setting, GURPS Thaumatology: Age of Gold. (Whoops . . .)</p>

-- Steven Marsh</p>

sjgames:

http://www.sjgames.com/ill/archives.html?m=December&y=2009&d=26

</p>

Our site was down for a bit over 24 hours. The problem proved to be a single port on a server switch, but it was a very important little port . . . and Jimmie was out of town, and attempts to troubleshoot remotely were not successful . . . We are, in theory, back now, and return you to the regularly scheduled Daily Illuminator, complete with picture of shiny dice.</p>

Cthulhu Dice</p>

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I'm not even going to attempt to do this image justice. Just click on the little thumbnail, and take a look at these beautiful dice in larger-than-life detail.</p>

You're looking at printer samples of Cthulhu Dice, which is scheduled to ship early next year. Each game will include one of these four colors. Don't worry, the colors will not be random -- each case will have the same number of each and the packaging will NOT be blind. You think we're going to make something this beautiful and not have it show in the package?</p>

-- Paul Chapman</p>

fadethecat:
( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

kateelliott:

My year end political post starts with a question I just asked my father. I note here, for those who don't know, that my father is a retired educator, whose field is American History, and frankly he knows as much as anyone I've ever met about American history and has a very clear sighted view of the past, present, and future.

So I asked him (while he was cooking eggs for breakfast for me, my spouse, and three grandchildren--two mine and one my strangely tall nephew):

"What grade you would give Obama for his first year in office?"

He replied,

[the rest of this post are my dad's words, taken from a more expanded conversation at the breakfast table; my interpolated comments to you, my faithful readers, are in brackets]

"I wouldn't give a grade. [My note: by which he meant, I think, that giving 'a grade' is kind of a pointless, artificial exercise.] I think he's done as well in the situation as anyone could have done. Can you imagine if George Bush was just starting his presidency now, as Barack Obama just did? You just can't help but say that men* do influence history. What they don't do, also influences history.

What people sometimes forget is that Barack Obama -- what he believes in is not the ideal world, where there is right and wrong -- but rather a little better world than the one there is now. What he believes, along with more orthodox and institutional churches, is that the world is an imperfect place and that human beings are, to put it mildly, imperfect, and that sometimes people are very very bad.

What he believes in is a society governed by a constitution, like the United States. With checks and balances and limitations on power. He clearly believes that power can corrupt, and knowing that's a possibility, has a pretty healthy attitude toward himself and power.

A good example is the health care plan. The true believers believe there is one right option, a single payer option. What Barack Obama believes, as far as I am concerned, is that there should be some reform in national health care insurance. He would probably like to have single payer option. But being pragmatic, anything that moves in the right direction is something he can approve, and will.

And the other thing that Americans don't understand is that the Constitution is almost as much a limit on democracy as an encouragement of democracy. The indirect election of Senators, now changed, for example. The president's power is limited by requiring that the Senate approve things like treaties. That's why we have two houses, for one (except Nebraska).

And also, that's one reason -- because he knows the Constitution and recognizes that it is a marvelous document to govern by -- he didn't make the mistake the Clintons made, saying that this is the health care plan we want you to pass.

The existing fact on the ground is that corporations have enormous power, and the only way to do it [health care reform] is to take them on within the existing situation. Obama very wisely said, this is up to the Congress, knowing full well it was a gamble.

Given the situation, and especially the terrible handicap of having to govern in a democratic society that is at war -- George Marshall once said that no democracy would sustain a war for more than 7 years, give or take one --

You know he is a pragmatic man when he is open enough to face the human condition and say that there are such things as just wars and such things as unjust wars**. The profound thinkers are existentialists [I note here that my dad has recently been reading, or re-reading, Abraham Joshua Heschel and Reinhold Niebuhr]. They deal with the existing situation, not what they would like it to be."




* [The use of the word "men" here was in response to a comment my spouse made during this conversation, about how he (the spouse) is 'not a believer in the Great Man Theory of history' but does see in times such as these how much influence individual men as rulers/governors can have; thus the use of the gender specific word 'men' in this context.]

** [My dad's opinion is that we should not have gone into Iraq in 2003. He never supported the Iraq War, although he did support HW's war to liberate Kuwait and now in retrospect he believes HW did it the right way, although he was critical of HW at the time for not taking out Saddam.

He also says that he thinks the reason Obama was awarded the Peace Prize was for the statement he made some months ago when he said that he would go anywhere and talk to anyone with no preconditions -- I'm not sure of the exact quote.]

fadethecat:
( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

jamesg77:

Christmas has come and gone, so it's time for my list of the books I have read this year. I've done considerably better than last year which is good.

( A good length list )

irregular_comic:

http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/2526.html

Today's theme: Fantasy

jlhlinnell:
So how could I arrange it for some burglar to break into my house and steal ONLY the TV, DVD player, and satellite TV equipment?

Hm.

dmmaus:
I started making a turkey sandwich for lunch. I found the loaf of bread we bought two days ago had gone mouldy. Not just a little bit on slice or two, but the entire loaf was riddled with mould. Darn humidity.

So I went up to the shops to buy some bread. Everything was closed of course - the supermarket, the main bakery. I found a tiny Asian bakery open and bought a loaf of bread.

Got home, cut two slices, put turkey on it. Opened the cranberry sauce jar... and it had gone mouldy.

dorktowerfeed:

http://www.dorktower.com/2009/12/25/so-this-is-christmas/

http://www.dorktower.com/?p=4262

MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY HOLIDAYS, everyone!

Here’s the final version of the card they chose, in the end:

John

dorktowerfeed:

http://www.dorktower.com/2009/12/25/dork-tower-friday-december-25-2009-a-very-classic-musky-christmas-iii/

http://www.dorktower.com/?p=4260

irregular_comic:

http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/2525.html

Today's theme: Cliffhangers

kateelliott:
We played Scrabble in the regular fashion. But then, for a final game, we played my sister's preferred version: in which you use the letters to form a word that sounds like it should be word, but you must play it together with its definition.

My favorites from the evening:

weetle: to annoy

somniad: the heroic tale of an epic sleeper

anjoupe: a small car in the form of a pear

sjgames:

http://www.sjgames.com/ill/archives.html?m=December&y=2009&d=25

Today's Christmas here in Austin, and in many other parts of the world as well. Hope you got all the games you were wishing for, as well as an abundance of fine festive folks with which to play them.</p>

And if you're in an area that boasts a true "White Christmas," throw a snowball for me. Today's the only day I miss the snow . . . but not the snow drifts, the white-outs, or the shoveling.</p>

-- Paul Chapman</p>

kateelliott:
And to those who celebrate it:

Merry Christmas.

To those who celebrate other holidays at this season:

Happy Holidays!

To those who enjoy the time off, then have a great time.

kateelliott:

Okay, I haven't seen it yet, although I may or may not, mostly depending on if I can ever find time.

Anyway, Twin A and Daughter went to see it for a second time, this time in 3-D (first time in 2-D). Twin A, on returning, announced, "After seeing this a second time, Mom, I feel I can be pretty sure in saying that you will not like it." (due, he meant, to high cliche quotient in the script as well as the noble savage motif)

What I did find was an interesting discussion by anthropologists, from the always interesting blog Savage Minds.

One of the more interesting stories that fall into the Dude Going Over is the story of Gonzalo Guerrero--Spanish sailor is shipwrecked, captured by a local Yucatec Maya group, eventually marries a chief's daughter and becomes part of the tribe and fights against the Spanish; his sons fight the Spanish, too). But the big difference with the story of Gonzalo Guerrero is that the Maya are not noble savages. They are people, with a civilization, with points of similarity and dissimilarity to other cultures, with their own wars and disputes, their own sense of humor and ways of doing things, upsides and downsides (and of course the Classic Maya civilization, further south, collapsed for various reasons one of which may be ecological mismanagement some hundreds of years earlier). They're not "better than us" or "worse than us." That's what I get tired of (a point, I might add, apropos of nothing in regard to the film, which I have not seen).

aberwyn:


see more Lolcats and funny pictures

karenmiller:
So it's either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, wherever you are. Seasons greetings to you all! Eat, drink and be merry and try not to throw fruit pudding at your relatives! *g*