The Serenity movie was great. I only saw 1 or 2 of the TV episodes and loved the movie. Not sure how continuity held up with the series, but i knew enough to follow it and enjoy it. My wife had not seen any of the series and she liked it too. It's a throw back to what Star Wars was originally ony a bit more gritty.
Not a good movie for children under 10 in my opinion.
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Thursday, September 29, 2005
Time is infinite
I've been ponder a few deep thoughts lately. The basis of most of them is this, "Time is Infinite." This is both big and small. There is no smallest measurement of time. So, perhaps alarmingly, each second contains an infinite amount of divisions. The measurement of time by us is completely arbitrary. Our physiology defines what we consider a long and short time. But what if we could change our perception of it? And just what is time anyway?
Lets say that I can think 10 thoughts in a second... So to me a second has a definition, I can roughly guess what it is and my lifespan would appear to be something like 80 years. But what if I could tweak my processor and think 100 thoughts a second? Would my 80 years suddenly feel like 800? Time is infinite. We don't need to extend our "time" we only need learn how to subdivide it. There is an eternity in every second if we could use it.
What is time? How exactly do you measure it. When it come right down to it, we have no means to observe time except by observing a completely unrelated change. We have to see a stop-watch tic. What if everything stopped moving. This would include molecules and chemical changes... your brain would stop of course, but now... is time passing? With no way to measure and no movement to track it, what has happened? Did time stop too? Our standard formula for time is T = distance/rate. Distance... thats movement. Oops! Something has to be moving to measure time.
Just needed to capture these thoughts.
So a little more... Time is infinite. So any portion of it measured against the rest of it is infinitely small. A single day in the span of millions of years is insignificant--unless you're a May Fly of course (they only live one day). But in the span of billons of years, even a few million years is simularly insignificant. This makes any portion of time insignificant compared to the rest of infinity. Soooo, that second you think is completely insignificant to your life is no more or less significant than a million years when compared to the rest of time. But it certainly appears that you can do more in a million years. This is an illusion. Every moment in time has infinite smaller divisions and all moments are about the same when compared to the rest of time.
Step back... way back... okay farther. Look at the whole of the universe in its entirety. All time and everything. Now poke your finger in it somewhere. You've poked into a space and a time. Now take your finger out and do it again... another space and another time. But the universe is pretty big so there is a lot of space and a lot of time. You could experience the universe this way for, more or less, forever.
Lets say that I can think 10 thoughts in a second... So to me a second has a definition, I can roughly guess what it is and my lifespan would appear to be something like 80 years. But what if I could tweak my processor and think 100 thoughts a second? Would my 80 years suddenly feel like 800? Time is infinite. We don't need to extend our "time" we only need learn how to subdivide it. There is an eternity in every second if we could use it.
What is time? How exactly do you measure it. When it come right down to it, we have no means to observe time except by observing a completely unrelated change. We have to see a stop-watch tic. What if everything stopped moving. This would include molecules and chemical changes... your brain would stop of course, but now... is time passing? With no way to measure and no movement to track it, what has happened? Did time stop too? Our standard formula for time is T = distance/rate. Distance... thats movement. Oops! Something has to be moving to measure time.
Just needed to capture these thoughts.
So a little more... Time is infinite. So any portion of it measured against the rest of it is infinitely small. A single day in the span of millions of years is insignificant--unless you're a May Fly of course (they only live one day). But in the span of billons of years, even a few million years is simularly insignificant. This makes any portion of time insignificant compared to the rest of infinity. Soooo, that second you think is completely insignificant to your life is no more or less significant than a million years when compared to the rest of time. But it certainly appears that you can do more in a million years. This is an illusion. Every moment in time has infinite smaller divisions and all moments are about the same when compared to the rest of time.
Step back... way back... okay farther. Look at the whole of the universe in its entirety. All time and everything. Now poke your finger in it somewhere. You've poked into a space and a time. Now take your finger out and do it again... another space and another time. But the universe is pretty big so there is a lot of space and a lot of time. You could experience the universe this way for, more or less, forever.
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
The Northwest is great
After the conference I worked remotely from my brother's house. But while I was there I was able to walk to the mountain spot where he and his wife were married. (close to the spot above). My camera phone, of course, does not do it justice.
It was great to visit. I haven't been to the area in 15 years or more. My brother comes down regularly so I was glad to be able to get up there.
Work calls...
Monday, August 29, 2005
T-bones Baseball Game
We went to a minor league baseball game on Sunday night. It was unfortunately the last one of the season. It was a great time. While I've been to a number of MLB games (the KC Royals), this was unlike any other game. I'm not a baseball fan, I don't watch it on TV and I rarely even keep up with the World Series. But this was a slice of midwest heaven.
In a small, yet well made stadium just on the west edge of town is where the game took place. We parked only about 4 car rows from the entrance. It only has a single seating level. Our tickets were front row right behind the dugout on the 3rd base line. I could have hit an umpire with a half-eaten slushie. Of course there were hot dogs, peanuts, pop and beer. Oh and cotton candy. It was just about 2 degrees in to hot, but the sun was going down behind us and we were sitting in the shade of the stadium.
There is something about being at a baseball game that makes you love it even if you don't think you're a fan. I think it might be the crack the of bat on a solid hit and watching the slow arch of a home run. The crowd hushes at that sound and all eyes watch. Will it clear the wall? Regardless of the outcome, the crowd thrills.
A great midwest thunderstorm loomed off to the North. The sky was dramatic, but the front held off until the 9th inning. When it did wash over us, it was like a cool blanket draped over the field. A gusty wind turned the flags around. But for the last few moments of the game, no one cared.
In the end our home team (the T-bones of course) lost by 2 runs. I didn't care. That game was the best baseball game I ever saw.
In a small, yet well made stadium just on the west edge of town is where the game took place. We parked only about 4 car rows from the entrance. It only has a single seating level. Our tickets were front row right behind the dugout on the 3rd base line. I could have hit an umpire with a half-eaten slushie. Of course there were hot dogs, peanuts, pop and beer. Oh and cotton candy. It was just about 2 degrees in to hot, but the sun was going down behind us and we were sitting in the shade of the stadium.
There is something about being at a baseball game that makes you love it even if you don't think you're a fan. I think it might be the crack the of bat on a solid hit and watching the slow arch of a home run. The crowd hushes at that sound and all eyes watch. Will it clear the wall? Regardless of the outcome, the crowd thrills.
A great midwest thunderstorm loomed off to the North. The sky was dramatic, but the front held off until the 9th inning. When it did wash over us, it was like a cool blanket draped over the field. A gusty wind turned the flags around. But for the last few moments of the game, no one cared.
In the end our home team (the T-bones of course) lost by 2 runs. I didn't care. That game was the best baseball game I ever saw.
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Dawning Star - d20 Future game
I started a little game for the tiny weasels (they are 6, 7 and 8 years old). So I wanted something easy and flexible and ready made (for the most part). I water down the rules significantly (or keep track of them in my head) and just let the kiddos roll dice and listen to what happens.
1st Lesson learned: Small kids require something to look at. They don't understand the game unless they can move their figure somewhere. I have a big tear away grid map that works to draw out homes, buildings, caves, etc.
2nd Lesson learned: Kids like to be silly. This is hard for me to keep up with as the Ref. I like silly, but I can't stay at the 6 year old silly level for long. But they didn't seem to mind when I moved them along.
The setup:
Dawning Star is a futuristic campaign based on the notion that Earth sent out 40 million colonistes in 20 giant vessels just a few years before the Earth was to be wiped out by a massive (moon sized) plantoid. On the way the fleet encountered an alien "jump gate". The gate was ancient, abandoned and malfunctioning. The primary terra forming vessel, the Dawning Star, was winked away to an alien system with several inhabitable planets. The jump gate would not function to return the Dawning Star and they were forced to make landing on a new home--the planet Eos. The new system was dubbed "Helios." The game timeline takes place 60 years after the Dawning Star lands on Eos. It is a roughly Earth equivalent world, with compatible life and atmosphere. The planet held other humanoid life at some time, but appears to be nearly vacant now. Their is a race of humanoids that live as nomadic tribes across the planet known as the Velin. They have a roughly Native American culture.
The game I've set up is on this world with 3 players (the kids). Logan and Rose are siblings living outside the smalltown of New Haven. The primary economy is ranching and farming. Both are 16 and free to roam most of the time. Their family owns a dragon farm (dragons are oversized lizards that act as horses for ranchers). Logan prefers his hover bike to the dragons and wears the latest pilot gear. His sister has made friends with the Velin. She rides a dragon very well and has a fine set of Velin leathers. Logan is a crack shot with a rifle, his sister prefers the bow.
The last character is my youngest boy. He wanted to play "a monster" so I had him look through the Star Wars Alien Anthology and pick one. He, of course, picked the biggest one possible. A Craigmodon (or something like that). Basically a huge elephantine humanoid. He doesn't have many skills, but he smashes things really well. He named him "Hiyah" (like the karate chop). Hiyah is a alien that crashed on this planet some time ago. He's lived alone in his cave for several years, he can't really remember how he got here. Logan and Rose found him a couple of years ago and they've all become friends. No one in the town knows about Hiyah and the kids' parents think he's made up.
Their very first adventure was exploring the new passage in Hiyah's cave. A recent earthquake exposed a new fissure in the back of his home. The passage leads back to a few natural chambers filled with giant spiders. But one chamber held robots of a strange design that activated when they walked in. Further exploration revealed a constructed mechanical doorway. Eos is known to have many abandoned ruins of the lost civilization that it once held. The 3 set to expore the new discovery. In the first room they encounter 5 more robots that are very tough. Hiyah has been doing great smashing things to bits so far, but even the giant can't stand in front of all the weapons fire and he goes down. Logan and Rose barely knock off the rest and then spend the next 3 days nursing their friend back to health while avoiding mom and dad (sneaking out).
That's was the first part... I'm sure they'll do more...
1st Lesson learned: Small kids require something to look at. They don't understand the game unless they can move their figure somewhere. I have a big tear away grid map that works to draw out homes, buildings, caves, etc.
2nd Lesson learned: Kids like to be silly. This is hard for me to keep up with as the Ref. I like silly, but I can't stay at the 6 year old silly level for long. But they didn't seem to mind when I moved them along.
The setup:
Dawning Star is a futuristic campaign based on the notion that Earth sent out 40 million colonistes in 20 giant vessels just a few years before the Earth was to be wiped out by a massive (moon sized) plantoid. On the way the fleet encountered an alien "jump gate". The gate was ancient, abandoned and malfunctioning. The primary terra forming vessel, the Dawning Star, was winked away to an alien system with several inhabitable planets. The jump gate would not function to return the Dawning Star and they were forced to make landing on a new home--the planet Eos. The new system was dubbed "Helios." The game timeline takes place 60 years after the Dawning Star lands on Eos. It is a roughly Earth equivalent world, with compatible life and atmosphere. The planet held other humanoid life at some time, but appears to be nearly vacant now. Their is a race of humanoids that live as nomadic tribes across the planet known as the Velin. They have a roughly Native American culture.
The game I've set up is on this world with 3 players (the kids). Logan and Rose are siblings living outside the smalltown of New Haven. The primary economy is ranching and farming. Both are 16 and free to roam most of the time. Their family owns a dragon farm (dragons are oversized lizards that act as horses for ranchers). Logan prefers his hover bike to the dragons and wears the latest pilot gear. His sister has made friends with the Velin. She rides a dragon very well and has a fine set of Velin leathers. Logan is a crack shot with a rifle, his sister prefers the bow.
The last character is my youngest boy. He wanted to play "a monster" so I had him look through the Star Wars Alien Anthology and pick one. He, of course, picked the biggest one possible. A Craigmodon (or something like that). Basically a huge elephantine humanoid. He doesn't have many skills, but he smashes things really well. He named him "Hiyah" (like the karate chop). Hiyah is a alien that crashed on this planet some time ago. He's lived alone in his cave for several years, he can't really remember how he got here. Logan and Rose found him a couple of years ago and they've all become friends. No one in the town knows about Hiyah and the kids' parents think he's made up.
Their very first adventure was exploring the new passage in Hiyah's cave. A recent earthquake exposed a new fissure in the back of his home. The passage leads back to a few natural chambers filled with giant spiders. But one chamber held robots of a strange design that activated when they walked in. Further exploration revealed a constructed mechanical doorway. Eos is known to have many abandoned ruins of the lost civilization that it once held. The 3 set to expore the new discovery. In the first room they encounter 5 more robots that are very tough. Hiyah has been doing great smashing things to bits so far, but even the giant can't stand in front of all the weapons fire and he goes down. Logan and Rose barely knock off the rest and then spend the next 3 days nursing their friend back to health while avoiding mom and dad (sneaking out).
That's was the first part... I'm sure they'll do more...
d20 Modern Game Notes
Another record game session with all 5 players...
Project: Last Hope
With no mafia to harass (at the moment), the group turns to internal projects. A while back Ryan, Amelia and Atanaska took a South American jungle excursion to find a cure for initial vampire infection. For several levels an infected host isn't lost to the night and can still travel in the day time. During this brief window, there is hope.
While no cure was discovered in the ancient temple, a message was discovered. It wasn't clear, but modern interpretation seemed to indicate an alien space station in orbit around Earth were the cure was kept. But of course, there is no ancient alien space station floating around at last check... or at least the public doesn't know about it. Other parts of the temple talk about a cure called “the Hope.” It depicted the gods coming down with the Hope to cure the people, but there wasn’t enough and the people fell and then the gods fell. A single artifact was recovered at the temple--a smooth steel rod with a sphere at one end. In the murals of the temple it is depicted as an icon of power wielded by the high priest. It summoned the "gods".
Christian went to work trying to decipher the strange device. After a few weeks he's tapped into it's power channels and found a way to power the device. Theorizing that it must be some type of communicator he funnels all the power he can must off the power grid in to it. He predicts the signal radius will be something like 100 light-years. While this would be pointless with any known transmitter (taking a 100 years to reach it's maximum range), he hopes the technology has some means to overcome the speed of light.
Christian summons the team and powers up the device. At full power he triggers what he hopes is the "transmit" function. There is a loud snap with sparks then the room goes black. Russell was ready with a digital camera and snaps a picture in the darkness blinding about everyone. The room has changed. In fact, it's not the same room at all.
A quick search reveals this room to be part of a series of chambers it what appears to be a space ship of some kind. The entire team has be transported somewhere in space. Worse, the team discovers the ship is abandoned, but not empty. Large insectoid creatures with devastating speed and attacks lurk in the barely functioning ship. Some rooms have lost air integrity... some passages are prone to collapse or gas leaks. And know no one knows how to get back. The "transmitter" did not arrive with the team. All they have is the gear they were holding and each other... will they make it back? Is the cure here? How long can they survive on the dying station?
Saturday, August 20, 2005
Something on my mind today
An article by the Kansas City Star...
This comes one day after it was announced that Sprint would no longer offer a pension plan to it's employees. Other benefits were put in place to offset, but it's difficult to determine if they are equivalent... Regardless, I doubt these executives will have any problems with retirement.
| Posted on Fri, Aug. 19, 2005 | ||||||||||||
 Sprint execs exercise options, gain millions By DAVID HAYES The Kansas City Star While Sprint and Nextel celebrated their merger this week, a few top executives sold more than $35 million of stock. On Wednesday, Gary Forsee, Sprint’s chief executive, exercised options on 626,250 shares — acquiring 417,500 shares at $11.87 and 208,750 more at $8.47. Forsee sold those shares for $26.50, for a total of $16,595,625, according to documents filed Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forsee cleared about $9.8 million on the transaction. According to the documents filed with the SEC, Forsee still owns 762,950 shares. Forsee said this week that the company, which has seen its share price more than double since he became CEO in March 2003, is the best positioned for growth in the telecommunications industry. The combined Sprint Nextel Corp. is competing primarily with fellow wireless giants Verizon Wireless and Cingular. “There are lots of opportunities for investors to look at Sprint,” Forsee said at a news conference this week at the New York Stock Exchange marking the completion of the merger. “This is going to be a must-invest play for investors who are looking for growth.” Two other Sprint officers also took the opportunity to sell while Sprint’s stock price was near or over $26 a share. On Tuesday, Thomas Kelly, Sprint’s chief strategy officer, exercised options at prices ranging from $3.86 to $22.62. He sold 625,042 shares at $26.02 a share, for a total of $16,267,468. Kelly cleared about $6.4 million on the transaction. He currently owns 226,939 shares. Also on Tuesday, William Arendt, Sprint’s controller, exercised options on 160,080 shares at prices ranging from $3.86 to $21.03. He sold those shares for $25.87 a share, for a total of $4,142,566. Arendt cleared about $2.02 million in the transaction and now owns 46,702 shares. In another document filed with the SEC on Thursday, Sprint set new compensation for outside directors on the Sprint board. Outside directors will receive annual cash retainers of $70,000 plus $2,000 per meeting. The chairmen of key committees, such as the audit committee, will receive additional retainers ranging from $10,000 to $20,000. The outside directors also are to receive $100,000 in restricted stock units that vest a year after they are granted. The directors also will receive telecommunications services and products. Sprint Nextel shares closed Thursday at $26.05, down 30 cents. First glance ■ Several Sprint executives make millions of dollars by exercising stock options and then selling their shares, SEC files show. ■ Gary Forsee, Sprint’s chief executive, clears about $9.8 million in his transactions. | ||||||||||||
This comes one day after it was announced that Sprint would no longer offer a pension plan to it's employees. Other benefits were put in place to offset, but it's difficult to determine if they are equivalent... Regardless, I doubt these executives will have any problems with retirement.
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