Synthetic Culture

The Elucidator is a quarterly print magazine published in Easton, Pa. It’s the sort of thing that people outside of the town might never expect to be here: a magazine reviewing local culture, life, and arts. It’s “Chew” and “Imbibe” columns check out the Lehigh Valley’s bars and restaurants, while “Listen” reviews a variety of music, and regular photo essays explore life in and around Easton.

Like I said, it’s nothing you’d expect to find here. Unless, of course, you actually lived here.

Easton’s changed a lot over the years, in some ways for the bad (gangs) and many ways for the good (the arts). There’s an established arts community, multiple art galleries, some cool downtown events — including beer, garlic and shad (yes, shad) festivals.

Game Day: Hack’n’Slashing in Memory of E. Gary Gygax

Gary Gygax passed away this week, shocking the geek world and sending a cascade of remembrances surging across the web. My gaming group is no less saddened by this, and in honor of Gygax, we took a one-week break from our campaign to run the classic 1st edition module, White Plume Mountain. Technically, we’re not … Read more

Mac Productivity Hacks

I spend a lot of time on the Mac — at work, at home, when I’m dreaming. These are the hacks that I use almost every day to get the most out of my computers.

Zoom in on anything

For a zoomed in view of anything on your computer, hold the CTRL key and then brush upwards on your trackpad with two fingers. To zoom out, hold the CTRL key and brush downwards with two fingers.

Get Google Talk working with iChat

There is no Google Talk client for the Mac, but you can access its instant messaging capabilities by setting up Jabber in iChat. This will not support voice chat, but it works just fine for text. Learn how to set up Jabber via this Google help page.

Fast launch applicatons from the dock

Sometimes you want to quickly browse your full list of applications without delving into the Finder and clicking on the “Applicatons” folder (or following a shortcut from the Desktop).

A hack I learned by visiting the Apple Store was to drop a shortcut to my Applications folder. Under 10.4 Tiger, you could then right-click on the folder and see a full list of all your apps. Then select the one you want, and it launches.

Random Thoughts on LOST Season 4

Why was the the Looking Glass station setup to connected to Penny’s office? We don’t know where Penny, or more specifically, her father and his corporation, fits into the larger LOST conspiracy, but I think its safe to say that Ben is interested in anyone who’s interested in the island. My guess is that the … Read more

Why WotC is Slash-and-Burning Dungeons & Dragons

Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition is coming, slashing and burning all that has come before to create a new game that ignores the tropes of classic sword-and-sorcery in order to embrace the always-on, always-cool mechanics of digital fantasy. We see it at every turn. The lack of a 3.x-to-4.x conversion guide. The admonishment to wrap-up … Read more

Top of the Pile: Uncanny X-Men, Astonishing X-Men, Red Hulk, Nausicaa

My comic collecting has entered the mid-winter doldrums; the big X-Men crossover has just ended, and while DC’s Countdown is approaching it’s end, that means little to me since I haven’t been keeping up with it. Instead, I’m waiting for the first few issues of the rebooted X-men titles and checking out the occasional one … Read more