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Monday, March 31, 2003
Melissa's blog. It's kind of a family thing, the talking a lot. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 3:24:00 PM   | One of my hobbies, as both of my readers know, is gaming. I've been a gamer since 1980, when a friend of mine named Paul Ott picked up a copy of the original Dungeons and Dragons rules - the so-called "Blue Box" set. We'd both read The Lord of the Rings just a few months earlier, so we were primed and ready. From 1980 until the early 90's, I played mostly D&D, with a few side trips into TSR's "Gamma World" and Hero Games' "Champions", as well as "Villains and Vigilantes". I played a few pickup games of "Call of Cthulhu" and "Traveller" (still got my original copies of the Black Books there, a little worn but still readable), but I was a D&D man all the way. In the early 90's, a friend brought me a copy of GURPS, which I've played pretty steadily since then. I'm currently GMing a GURPS campaign called "Fearless Monster Hunters" - Travel the world, meet interesting and unusual creatures, and kill them before 5 O'clock tea - it's Steampunk, set in 1890. The players are running characters that are members of a British Gentlemen's club, all upper-class ex-military officers. I"ll be nattering on about the campaign every once in a while, so consider this an attention conservation notice. The campaign was inspired by Alan Moore's brilliant comic series, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. So far, the party has descended into the sewers of London to track down rumors of giant alligators (they're there, and they were being controlled by Puck, aka Robin Goodfellow, until our intrepid band of heroes skewered him with a steel knife), traveled to Scotland's coast to track down rumors of a return of Sawney Bean (actually, it was a British Lord and his Evil Butler using a copy of Victor Frankenstein's grimoire to recreate his experiments [they assisted Adam, the Modern Prometheus, in recovering it]) and traveled into the land of Faerie to recover a child that had been taken by Queen Titania (and managing to anger King Auberonn, as well as discover a seeming plot between Auberonn and someone from China called "The Doctor" to cripple England and perhaps the rest of the West). Coming up is a trip to Canada to assist the RCMP in their search for a Wendigo. Can't go into too much detail on this, suffice it to say that things will once again not be what they seem. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 8:59:00 AM | Sunday, March 30, 2003
Check this out. It's a website that allows you to play around with one of those "identi-kit" thingies the cops use to help you describe a suspect. See if you can make a self-portrait. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 7:55:00 AM | Saturday, March 29, 2003
The Wife and I caught these guys last night at The Carousel Lounge in Austin. Good music (full disclosure: The bassist and lead singer are both friends of ours), they've got a really nice sound to them. Can't recommend 'em enough, for those of you in Austin. Which, based upon those I know are reading this, is, like, both of you. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 7:07:00 AM | Friday, March 28, 2003
Here's something I'm pondering: moral calculus. How can we determine when something is worth it? It's impossible, I think, to come up with anything resembling "hard and fast" rules. Allow me to illustrate from personal experience - when I was young, I had a lot of problems with bullies - I was an odd duck, smart and with a smart mouth, but not what you'd call friendly - a standoffish wiseacre is the best term I can think of. My father is a committed pacifist, and he stressed for me growing up that violence isn't a good way to resolve differences. I took this deep to heart, and tried my damndest to talk my way out of fights. Predictably enough (from 30-odd years later), this didn't work too well. At one point around 5th grade, I was getting into fights almost on a daily basis. Nothing big, a punch usually knocked me down, but enough to make me decide to never let that happen to me any more. I started fighting back - not with anything resembling skill, just as hard and determined as I could get. I still lost fights, but it took longer, and I almost always got some damn good shots in, usually to the testicles of my opponent. To me, it was worth getting my ass kicked, to go down fighting, if it meant I never had to face the personal humiliation of having my face shoved into the dirt, of being left in the dust as my assailant walked away laughing. Something happened after I started this tactic - people stopped picking fights with me. The bullies knew they could beat me, but I made it too damn expensive for them. To beat me, a bully wound up with at least a black eye, and on one memorable occasion, I was the one that walked away laughing as the bully lay there whimpering with pain. It's amazing how quickly the fight goes out of someone when you puch him in the nuts and then kick him in the stomach when he hits the ground. I had a friend that didn't think it was worth it to fight - he just retreated, stayed close to the teacher all during PE and ran straight to his mother's car after school. I couldn't have lived like that. Looking at Iraq, I see similar decisions on a vastly larger scale. Is freedom from a monster like Hussein worth losing your entire family? What about just your wife, or half of your kids? What if they all get to live, but only after watching you die? I don't know - I still believe we are doing something that needs to be done. It would be better if we could have done it without this, if Hussein could be removed without bombs and tanks and hundreds of thousands of soldiers, but I don't see that it could happen that way. It's a sad state of affairs, but it's as necessary as cutting out a malignant tumor. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 3:04:00 PM | Wednesday, March 26, 2003
Actually managed to get some sleep last night - the kids (for once) actually slept until after 5:30 AM. It's weird, looking at the world through non-sleep deprived eyes. I'd forgotten that things don't normally weave around like heat mirages. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 7:46:00 AM | Still sorting out HTML and layout and all that. Pain in the ass, for a lazy person such as myself. I like the convenience of clickable interfaces, dammit. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 6:22:00 AM | Tuesday, March 25, 2003
Gotta figure out the goddamn HTML and template shit now. Links and email stuff will come later. Until then, fuck off. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 6:44:00 PM | Working a double shift tonight, due to the decision by a coworker to call in sick at the last minute. FUCKER The guys in the cubicle corral next to me have a TV going with CNN, so I'm getting what passes for updates on the war. I was initially against the war, but after a lot of discussion and thinking and research, I've decided that whatever else comes out of this, if we get Hussein out of power, we've done a net good. I'm looking at what can be done right now to make the world a better place, and Iraq seems as good a place to start as any. By now, you've no doubt seen all the facts that I have, and you've made up your mind. Please, don't feel compelled to either write me and tell me I'm a Bad Person or that you support me, and wonder if I'd like to come to your Aryan Nations clambake next week. I don't much care what you think, and don't want to discuss it. This is my blog, and you're reading it. Means I don't have to listen to you if I don't want to. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 6:15:00 PM | Well, here we go. Don't know if I'll keep this up at all, but let's start the ball rolling and see what happens. The obligatory self-description follows. My name is Adam C. Lipscomb. C for Christian. Yes, as in the religion. No, I'm not. I was raised Methodist, am now an Apathist. Not an athiest, an apathist. Means I don't care. I'm a 35-year old living in Austin, TX. I'm currently employed in telecommunications, happily married and the parent of 2 children with 1 more on the way. If you want to bitch at me about ZPG or overpopulation, I'd like to very politely ask you to go fuck yourself with a broken bottle I collect comic books, play role-playing games and read voraciously, which I suppose makes me a geek. A few quotes that seem (to me) to sum me up: "We live for books, a sweet mission in this world bordered by disorder and decay." - Umberto Eco "A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week." - George S. Patton "Measure twice, cut once" - Old proverb I'm what I call a left-leaning moderate libertarian with socialistic tendencies. Except on random Wednesdays, when I tell people I'm a Constitutional Monarchist. What this means is that I'll decide for my damn self what I think on an issue, and I'll be glad to discuss it rationally with you, but I don't much cotton to being told what to believe, especially by people that don't smell good or spit when they talk. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 6:02:00 PM | |
