Ken Newquist The destructive power of gel candles is heralded by a scare e-mail claiming these candles are capable of destroying toilets and burning down houses. The e-mail has some facts right; gel candles can flare up, causing fires, and there have been several gel candle recalls. But none of the recalls say anything about these candles … Read more
An hoax e-mail circulating since well before the November 2004 elections claims that congressmen sweet pension deal means they don’t have to pay into Social Security. Here’s the hoax I collected back before the election (and have only just now gotten around to debunking — don’t worry though, this thing isn’t going away any time … Read more
My old gaming bumper stickers on the Wrangler are finally peeling off the bumper, and the time has come to replace them. I picked up the old stickers at GenCon in 2001, and they were pure geekery: “Evil Geniuses for a Better Tomorrow”, “Why Choose The Lesser of Two Evils? Vote Cthulhu!” and “The DM … Read more
I love my Macs, but I know they can be a little frustrating for the uninitiated, particularly those who come to the platform from Windows with absolutely no experience on the Mac. My goal with this blog entry is to help ease the transition a bit by addressing some of the frustrations that I’ve seen … Read more
I decided to catch up on my podcasts today, and spent this morning’s commute listening to a few of my favorite podcasts, as well as trying out something new. Driving Decompressions #37 First up was Michael Wolf’s Driving Decompressions. Mike hasn’t been posting much recently, having abandoned his twice-a-week schedule in favor of prepping for … Read more
Radio Active #3 is finally available for download. I’d finished most of the production last week, and foolishly thought I’d be able to work on it over the weekend. Why I thought this–given that my daughter’s birthday party was Saturday, and Easter was Sunday–I have no idea. This time around I eschew the soundclips and … Read more
It’s been a long time since I did one of these columns, mostly because most of my gaming wishes came true for Christmas and I went hogwild during Bastion Press’s big January sale, buying five new source books. I’ve finally worked my way through all those books and the itch to expand my collection is … Read more
The threat of the “809” phone scam–in which individuals try to trick people in the U.S. into calling a seemingly-national, but actually-international phone number–is blown ridiculously out of proportion by an e-mail circulating the net. The basic premise of the e-mail is true. The area codes do lie outside the United States and certain scam … Read more
Some thoughts on Alderac’s official announcement about Spycraft 2.0, set to be released in July 2005. Read the full story.
My daughter StarGirl is turning two on March 26, a fact I find astounding and awesome. Astounding because it really does seem like she was born yesterday, and awesome because of how much she’s grown–physically and mentally–since her last birthday. Walking What was such a major landmark last year is now commonplace and forgettable except … Read more