firehose

Um.

(Soldier builds gingerbread bin Laden compound replica)

The waste and corruption of Vladimir Putin's 2014 Winter Olympics.

Just stamp some mouse-ear logo on your surveillance equipment and Americans will be downright delighted to let you monitor everything they do!

Hello. My name is Chris Kluwe, and for eight years I was the punter for the Minnesota Vikings. In May 2013, the Vikings released me from the team.

MiamiHerald.com

Mighty winter storm 'Hercules' heads to Northeast USA TODAY A major winter storm could complicate the first post-New Year's Day back to work and school for millions in New England and beyond. The storm, predicted to affect the USA from the upper Midwest to the East Coast from Wednesday through Friday, ... 2014's first big storm bears down on northeast USSeattle Post Intelligencer Residents brace for winter storm that may bring up to a foot of snow in NortheastFox News New England, NY Prepare For 1st Snowstorm Of 2014News 92 FM Reuters -San Francisco Chronicle -Bloomberg all 215 news articles »

http://imgur.com/qkxS9F4

Original Source

Digital distribution channel GOG.com has pulled Fallout, Fallout 2 and Fallout Tactics from its virtual shelves. The decision is in regards to new IP owner Bethesda, which officially took over full franchise rights from Interplay as of January 1, ...

Rupert Murdoch’s 20-year pursuit of the Chinese television market and its 1.3 billion sets of eyeballs is effectively over.

21st Century Fox Group, the vehicle housing Murdoch’s fast-growing, global film studios and television businesses (last June these were separated from his older publishing businesses, which are housed in the new News Corp) announced this morning that it had sold its remaining 47% stake in Star China TV, the owner of three 24-hour Mandarin language channels and a Chinese film library.

It caps off a remarkable turn of events for Murdoch, who the New York Times described in 2007 as ”the Chinese leadership’s favorite foreign media baron” who had exhibited an “ardent” and “unrelenting” approach to business in the Middle Kingdom.

What happened? The truth is that Murdoch has been encountering difficulties in China ever since he set foot in the country. Shortly after he bought Star TV  for $1 billion in 1993, the mogul delivered a provocative speech in London that upset the Chinese government. He said that satellite TV represented an ”unambiguous threat to totalitarian regimes,” by making it easier for “information-hungry residents” in closed societies to get around state-censored TV.

But the fast-growing market’s allure proved irresistable, and Murdoch persisted. But in 2005, he said his business in China had “hit a brick wall” after the government  surprisingly tightened restrictions on foreign media companies seeking to do business there. By 2010, he had started selling out of Star China, refocusing his ambitions on the equally massive but much more agreeable Indian television market.

The real clincher for Murdoch’s China exit might be more personal: his recent divorce from Wendi Deng, the Jinan-born Yale graduate who he married in 1999. Deng and Murdoch met in 1997, when she was plucked from Hong Kong to act as a translator to aid in the billionaire’s Chinese ambitions. At the time, she was working for Star TV.

Deng is expected to get the couple’s 2,000 square-meter Beijing residence as part of the divorce settlement. It may be that Murdoch’s latest move is yet another example of how the rich and famous—as the gossip magazines put it—are just like us: They take great pains to erase all memories of an ex after a messy breakup.

Marvel Comics opens 2014 with the news that Wade Wilson has found himself a blushing bride in April's "Deadpool" #27.

schwit1 writes "Illinois passed a new state law that set back the efforts of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), making the use of drones to interfere with hunters and fishermen prohibited. The law was created in response to PETA's plan to employ drones called "air angels" to monitor outdoors enthusiasts engaged in hunting and fishing nationwide."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Post by: Grant Rodiek

The single greatest barrier to entry for board games is learning to play the game, or put another way, reading the rules. This is a tiny, niche hobby that when compared to other forms of spending one’s time is merely a spec on the landscape.

Consider a potential gamer’s alternatives, and by alternatives, I mean alternate ways in which they can spend their time.

• A movie is ready to go. You show up, pick a film, and passively enjoy.
• Televisions is ready to go. You select a channel and passively enjoy.
• A book is ready to go. You open it and actively enjoy.
• A video game requires learning (sequels and copycats aside), but it interactively teaches you. Ideally, you are also having fun.
• Facebook is constantly updated with things to see and do. It is fairly mindless and easy to appreciate.
• Browsing the Internet is a semi-active, sometimes subconscious trawl through the depths of human depravity and accomplishment.

A board game requires you learn the game, sufficiently to teach it, then learn to play it. Even if you are taught, you must still actively listen and learn. Personally, I enjoy reading rules and learning games. But, I’m a freak exception in this regard. For many people, learning a new game feels like work. Why work when you can watch TV, read, or play Candy Crush?

Innovations in teaching players our games are the single most important way to grow our hobby. There have been several lately that I wanted to gather and bring to your attention.

Video Tutorials: A few folks have done this very well, notably Plaid Hat Games and Watch it Played with Mice and Mystics, or Van Ryder Games and Ryan Metzler with If I’m Going Down. This is a great trend that matches consumer habits and really gives folks an alternative way to learn. Everyone learns in different ways, so forcing people to read, and read only, isn’t always right.

Videos can be easily found by putting a big notice on your game cover, either a simple graphic or a QR code. Don’t snicker! They can be useful.

You may not have the budget to hire someone, but using a smartphone video camera and open source or low cost software, you can make something. With zero editing and only two takes, I created a walk through of my prototype Battle for York. Were I to spend just a little more effort, I could use the $6 iMovie editing app to arrange scenes better, then I could overlay Voice Memo audio with better camera shots.

What I’m trying to get at is that if you are serious about making your games more accessible, you don’t have an excuse.

Learn to Play manual versus Reference manual: Fantasy Flight has begun a new rules tactic where they ship two booklets with each game. Battlelore 2nd Edition is one game to feature this.  One teaches the players how to play the game. This book focuses on the initial experience and minimizes edge case and one-off explanations. The second booklet is an index for quickly answering rules questions (ex: how does movement work when I am out of money?) and goes deeper into more complex and less common rules.

This accomplishes quite a few things.

• It services the needs of the first time player. It presents a smooth, narrative of learning. It is A to Z service as far as most people need to know.
• It services the needs of the experienced player with quick, simple check ups.
• It makes the rules seem shorter. Don’t believe me? Joel Eddy noted how short the rules were in his recent Battlelore 2nd Edition review. People notice.
• It eases the burden on designers from teaching everything at once.

To continue with this last point, have you ever explained a game to a friend, only to have him hold up a hand and say “just stop, I’m full.” There’s a point where people can’t learn any more, so even if there are more rules, they are finished. I hit this 2 weeks ago explaining City of Remnants. On my second play with another group of friends, I completely changed my strategy. I simplified it and told them the basics. As the game progressed, I revealed more details. No problems.

There are a few twists and variations on this premise.

• X-Wing Miniatures Game offers first game, quick start rules. They are dead simple and exclude over half the game, but they can be learned very quickly and get the point across.
• Conflict of Heroes and Earth Reborn both offer layered, teaching rules. Both games are scenario driven, so much like video games, they introduce a few mechanics, have you play the scenario to drive home the point, then teach a few more rules.

Use Cards to Teach Exceptions, not the Rules: This is one of the great benefits of using cards, but it bears repeating. If you have a game where the rule book conveys a few simple, systematic rules, then you use your cards to convey exceptions, you will generally have a smoother game experience.

I was playing Blockade at GenCon with a publishing contact. At one point we were discussing a kamikaze mechanic (no longer in Mars Rising for a few reasons) and whether it should be a rule, or a card. The publisher stressed emphatically that it should be a card. “There are already so many things to learn and keep in my head. Why add this one that is only used conditionally?”

He had a point. If you have an exception to the main, an “if then” (which should arguably be avoided regardless), a rare occurrence, or something similar, consider using a card to help people learn the game more easily.

1812: The Invasion of Canada and Summoner Wars are two good examples of this.

Solo Variants: It can be intimidating for some to learn the game and teach it to friends without having tried the game. Some folks are visual learners, or learn by doing, and a rule book just won’t cut it. No matter how good the booklet, it’s just not how their mind works.

Consider adding a solo variant to your experience, or a puzzle mode that uses the pieces and mechanics in a fresh way, or perhaps just create a 20 minute teaching walk through game.

Folks may roll their eyes, but how difficult would it be to craft a 30 minute challenge for your game for only one person to enjoy and learn? If you love your games to be brain burners, here’s your chance to craft one.

• Earn N of a resource using only 15 workers. Teaches resource management and manipulating the resource economy.
• Earn N points in 3 rounds. Teaches the importance of scoring and how to win.
• Conquer this region using only these troops. Teaches tactical formations and using units sparingly.
• And so forth…

Ultimately, you can seek to give your players a helping hand to learn and stumble in the privacy of their own living room before standing before their friends.

Fully Illustrated Turn Examples: This may seem like overkill, but providing a fully illustrated game play example for your players is another way to reach different learning types.One of my recent purchases, Theseus, devotes a few pages in the back of its rule book to walking new players through a game, step by step.

 

This is relatively simple to execute, assuming you can afford the book space.

Add Rules as you Go: As far as I know there’s only one example (so far) of this, but Risk Legacy is brilliant in that more of the world, complexity, and rules unlock as the game progresses.  As the game has been out for quite some time now, below, I’m going to SPOIL some of the mechanics. NOT the story, but the mechanics.

WARNING: I’M GOING TO LIST SOME RISK LEGACY MECHANICS THAT ARE UNLOCKED.

 

 

Ready?

 

 

Here are some of the mechanics:

• A drafting mechanic is introduced to let players vie for starting territory, starting units, starting resources, and order of faction selection. Introducing this later is good in that it spares new players the complexity, but also doesn’t force them to make choices they don’t yet fully understand.
• New factions are introduced that offer new mechanics, specifically ones that take advantage of the modified state of the game board.
• Factions gain new abilities. All begin with 1, which is relatively simple to understand. Over time, they gain many new abilities that are easier to learn.
• Cities are quickly introduced, which provide an alternate incentive for gaining troops, as well as a tactical decision regarding gaining and defending territory.

Creating a legacy-style game is intimidating and difficult, but consider finding ways to add complexity over time. This example is, of course, very similar to Conflict of Heroes, which uses scenarios to introduce complexity.

What are some of the other innovations in teaching rules that you have seen lately? Share in the comments below!

spells-of-life:

ANCIENT VIKING RUNE STONE LUNAR CALENDAR 1000 AD Norway.

A few days ago I wrote about a Qt5-powered web-browser inspired by Opera that's open-source and would see its first development release soon. There was lots of interest in the project with many Opera users having experienced a falling-out with the closed-source browser's recent versions. Now as of yesterday Otter Alpha 1 is available...

Link

submitted by MaxFenig
[link] [31 comments]

That wall-crawling criminal is at it again! In the video below, you can clearly see the web-spinning freak toss an innocent TV newscaster to the ground. How much more evidence does the public need before we launch an all-out manhunt to bring this arrogant arach-nerd to justice?

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New York Daily News

Obama Christmas gift goes astray Politico A woman from the Chicago suburbs got an unexpected surprise for Christmas: A present from the Obama family to Sasha and Malia's godmother. The White House confirmed on Thursday that the family's mailed present was delivered to the wrong person and ... Wrong family gets Christmas gift from ObamasUSA TODAY Obama family Christmas gift ends at wrong doorWashington Times Obamas' Christmas present goes astrayWashington Post (blog) Journal and Courier all 22 news articles »

The original comics were designed to stun—both their startling graphics and their rambunctious antics.

Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "The Editorial Board of the New York Times has weighed in on the criminal charges facing Edward Snowden and writes that 'Snowden deserves better than a life of permanent exile, fear and flight..' 'He may have committed a crime to do so, but he has done his country a great service. It is time for the United States to offer Mr. Snowden a plea bargain or some form of clemency that would allow him to return home, face at least substantially reduced punishment in light of his role as a whistle-blower, and have the hope of a life advocating for greater privacy and far stronger oversight of the runaway intelligence community.' The president said in August that Snowden should come home to face charges in court and suggested that if Snowden had wanted to avoid criminal charges he could have simply told his superiors about the abuses, acting, in other words, as a whistle-blower. In fact, notes the editorial board, the executive order regarding whistleblowers did not apply to contractors, only to intelligence employees, rendering its protections useless to Snowden. More important, Snowden told The Washington Post that he did report his misgivings to two superiors at the agency, showing them the volume of data collected by the NSA, and that they took no action. 'Snowden was clearly justified in believing that the only way to blow the whistle on this kind of intelligence-gathering was to expose it to the public and let the resulting furor do the work his superiors would not. ... When someone reveals that government officials have routinely and deliberately broken the law, that person should not face life in prison at the hands of the same government,' concludes the editorial. 'President Obama should tell his aides to begin finding a way to end Mr. Snowden's vilification and give him an incentive to return home.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

“Thunderbolt, ho!” That’s the cry of low-frame-rate animated big cats when they found out just how much the new Akitio Thunder Dock can do when hooked up to a Mac. And…

A paper in Frontiers in Zoology claims that dogs can sense the Earth's magnetic field, and preferentially align to it when pooping. (via Sean Bonner)

hypnosec writes "Eric S. Raymond, co-founder of the Open Source Initiative, has recommended that Emacs should move to another version control system like GitHub, as bzr is dying. In an email, Raymond highlighted the key reasons why he believes that Emacs should move. Raymond said that bzr is moribund; its dev list has flatlined; and most of Canonical's in-house projects have already abandoned bzr and moved to GitHub. ESR believes that bzr's codebase is sufficiently mature to be used as a production tool, but he does mention that continuing to use the revision control system will have 'social and signaling effects damaging to Emacs's prospects.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Here’s the trailer that ran in front of Sherlock last night.

Yum.

not bold. i'm sorry
















woooo small font size sorry

wreckingjakesballs:

 THEY ARE ALL OKAY, and all those things could exist in THE SAME WOMAN. (X)

The thing that bugs me a little about this is that there are already millions of female characters who cry and who cower and who are desperate for a husband. It’s not like fiction was exactly desperate for more portrayals like that, a lot of those are standard tropes that have long since reached saturation.

Before there was Xena, there were a million female characters who cried and cowered and schemed. They weren’t exactly rare.

There’s a reason why people started asking for ‘strong’ female characters. The whole conversation is complicated and not easily reduced to a series of little photos like this. It didn’t take deliberate effort to make more women who are needy or ineffectual..they were all over the place.

It DID take deliberate effort to start making kickass heroines. 

what if andy kaufman has been faking his death for the last 30 years and he comes back in 2014 and challenges the undertaker to a match at wrestlemania 30 in new orleans 

Here's a really neat rundown of exactly how Daft Punk mixed their "One More Time" sample.