Ken Newquist 
The long, winding trail to Philmont continued in June as I launched into training for a 10K race. I don’t have a particular race in mind, and given the state of the COVID-19 world, it’s likely any race I do will be virtual. That said, this is very much a journey-before-destination sort of thing, so … Read more
Nuketown’s summer reading list for 2020 is in full effect. In May and June, I finished two books – The Unicorn Project and Bone Silence – and picked up Arcana of the Ancients, a hefty new science fantasy RPG sourcebook for my new lunchtime campaign. The Unicorn Project The Unicorn Project (Amazon), Gene Kim’s follow-up to The Phoenix Project … Read more
May started with our trip to Philmont being canceled. We moved our reservation to 2021 in the hopes that we’ll be able to travel (and hike) by then. The challenge used to be getting ready for a 60-mile backpacking trip by June; it became staying motivated when that trip is now more than a year … Read more
Weird, dimming star Betelgeuse may have a dusty explanation – Ah, remember those bygone days when our biggest worry was a red giant star going supernova? Foo Fighters ‘Times Like These’ Quarantine Mix Is Unreal – I’m not crying. You’re crying. Danger Zone – X-Wing Tribute – Ok, that was a bit intense. Time for some good ol’80s era … Read more
Bullet journals are analog alternatives to printed day planners, “to-do” apps, and note-taking tools. Created by Ryder Carroll, bullet journals are a purposefully archaic approach to capturing life’s esoteric bits, from a list of today’s meetings to a quick note about that weird dream you had last night. Though typically used to organize your real-life, … Read more
After last year’s summer reading list took me nine months to complete, I decided to make this year’s list more manageable. I certainly had fun with last year’s list – 19 books, 5 graphic novels – but by summer’s end, I’d only read 11 of the 19 books. There were a lot of reasons for … Read more
Like an astronaut hurled far into deep space, Nuketown Radio Active returns to Earth a year after it left to find the planet utterly transformed. Fortunately, there are no super-intelligent apes. At least, not yet. On this episode of Nuketown Radio Active, I reintroduce folks to the podcast, catch up on the state of Nuketown, … Read more
April was the countdown to the inevitable. We knew mid-month that Philmont Scout Ranch would update their COVID-19 strategy on May 1 and that announcement could mean the end to our 2020 backpacking trek. Throughout April, NeutronLad and I maintained our Philmont routines and started thinking about how we could kick them into higher gear … Read more
Podcasts help soothe the locked-down soul. What do I mean by that? Well, something that’s driving me buggy about the COVID-19 lockdown is the remote nature of almost every conversation we have. Aside from talking with my wife and kids, and the occasional across-the-street or through the fence conversation with neighbors, every conversation I have … Read more
Join Meetings From A Galaxy Far, Far Away With These Star Wars Backgrounds – Zoom meetings are exhausting and boring. Make them a little more interesting by throwing Cloud City, and X-Wings, and Death Star ruins into your background. David Brin’s List of “Greatest Science Fiction and Fantasy Tales” – Looking for some new books … Read more