Welcome ... and welcome back! This is Nuketown's RADIATIONS newsletter, resurrected phoenix-like from the ashes of the old web site. Much as changed since the last edition of RADIATIONS went out. Nuketown has been overhauled and rebuilt, providing the site with a wealth of new tools, such as the ability to post comments to any story on the site and a new notification tool to let you know when stories and comments have been posted.

And I'm a dad again -- my son Lucas was born in June, and is now a very happy 4 month old.

And then there's RADIATIONS itself. The engine driving the newsletter has changed, and its now an integral part of the site. If you setup an account with Nuketown (yes, you can now do that) you can manage your subscriptions through your account page. If not, you can change your subscription options (including dropping the newsletter all together) by visting the link at the bottom of this newsletter.

I'd like to hear what you have to say about the new newsletter ... and the new site! You can e-mail your comments to me at editor@nuketown.com or add them to the web-based version of this newsletter, available at the following URL:

http://www.nuketown.com/node/2077/

Thank you, and good reading!

Ken Newquist
Editor, Nuketown

BLOG

Preparing to Paint, Preparing to Listen
http://www.nuketown.com/node/2076

We've entered Phase III of the Great Fall Painting Project which involves spackling, priming and then painting the ceiling, arch and door in the foyer. With my trusty iPod shuffle having slipped off its mortal coil and my ancient iPod in need of an extended recharge, I'm trying a different way of listening to podcasts: streaming them.

Salon: Why Johnny Can't Code
http://www.nuketown.com/node/2081

Over at Salon.com, David Brin's been speculating on the demise of the BASIC programming language and what it means for the next generation of programmers. In "Why Johnny Can't Code", he argues that BASIC -- once a standard part of every PC -- allowed would-be coders to understand programming in a fundamental, transparent way that today's languages just can't do.

BOOKSHELF

The 9/11 Report as a Graphic Novel
http://www.nuketown.com/node/2091

Political commentary web site Slate has released a graphic novel version of The 9/11 Report. I haven't read beyond the first few pages yet, but I find it a fascinating experiment. It takes a government report, typically dry and uninspiring affairs (though I think the 9/11 Report is better than most) and gives it visual impact. Textual detail is lost to artist interpretation, but at the same time it adds a sense of immediacy.

GAME ROOM

Designing a Play-By-Wiki Game
http://www.nuketown.com/node/2071

Running role-playing games online is a kind of hell. Be it by blog, forum, e-mail or some sort of real-time hookup, sustaining a game can be near impossible. While I have no hard data on this, my guess would be that only 1 in 10 online games succeed, and that's probably wildly optimistic -- the real number's probably closer to 1 in 50.

HOAX CENTRAL

Snopes.com: Half Nelson
http://www.nuketown.com/node/2089

Snopes.com debunks the rumor that Willie Nelson quipped "It's a good thing I had a bag of marijuana instead of a bag of spinach. I'd be dead by now" after his tour bus was raided for drugs, and in the wake of hundreds being sickened by E. coli-contaminated spinich.

LINKPORT

Dungeon Magazine Index
http://www.intwischa.com/dungeon/

The Dungeon Magazine Index provides a searchable, filterable list of adventures published in Paizo's dungeon-master-friendly magazine. Visitors can search based on article name and can filter based on level and setting. As a DM who's spent more than one Saturday coming through old Dungoens looking for adventure fodder, I can safely say that this tool will be a real time saver.

MUSIC HALL

Adequate Goblet of Fire Soundtrack Fails to Inspire
http://www.nuketown.com/node/2074

John Williams' original Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone soundtrack was a whimsical, wondrous album with a hook that was instantly as memorable as anything he'd done for Star Wars or Jaws. The Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire soundtrack retains elements of Williams' themes, but its musical evolution is nowhere near as impressive as the film it scores.

THEATRE

Heroes Will Rise
http://www.nuketown.com/node/2090

With the exception to LOST, broadcast TV hasn't been kind to speculative fiction. Science fiction series died by the bunch last year, with only Invasion surviving long enough to have a full season run … and not being renewed. Before LOST, Fox killed off Firefly, the most promising SF series in years without even trying to find it an audience.

And now we have Heroes, a superhero series that inherits almost a decades worth of superhero momentum, and tries to do something amazing with it. There are two big questions: is it any good … and will NBC let it survive long enough to thrive?

PODCAST

Radio Active #38: Radio Active #38: Painting Ghosts, Portable Apps, A Feast for Crows
http://www.nuketown.com/node/2078

Home improvement once again takes center stage as my wife and I prepare to re-paint our living room. But it's not all painting and scraping: I've also got two new sites to talk about -- GenCon (Almost) Live and Geek Acres -- and a run down of my favorite games for the Nintendo DS. And that review of George R.R. Martin's A Feast for Crows? Yeah, that gets delayed again -- look for it in Radio Active #38.