This is the coolest thing I’ve seen all day. I want a metric ruler to wear on my wrist!
It’s the perfect complement to the stainless steel “Brass” rat.
Sadly, they are currently out of stock (and they’re also $40) or I’d be giving them as Christmas (or your winter-holiday-of-choice) presents to all my hardware-hacking and sewing friends.

Baking with bread is my new favorite thing about having a bread machine. I *love* bread pudding, and I love cranberries, and now’s the time for fresh ones.

Aurora australis and the beautiful sky

I’ve seen the Milky Way, and I’ve seen the sky at night from a mountain valley with ~ no light pollution, but I’ve never seen anything like that. Amazing.

Maybe we need to talk with the bakery staff.

The next best brand to Monster.

The current first place candidate is not surprising, but I was shocked that my candidate is in second!
Also, there was one that I didn’t recognize—anyone know what 4 8 15 16 23 42 is?

Case study: D&D 4e stealth and perception. The default Perception action benefits the group. It’s helpful for everyone to roll, helpful for anyone or everyone to be trained in Perception—if you’re trained, you might see the monster coming, and then you can tell the rest of the party. Everybody benefits. You personally benefit in being surprised less often, but the whole party’s glad to hear that anyone got trained in Perception or increased his score.

The default Stealth action does not benefit the group: it only hides one character. We optimize in common play: only the worst member of the group rolls to hide the whole group, no matter its size. There is no benefit to mid-ranked characters increasing their scores. What if it did? What if the default Stealth action was to hide a group? Let everybody roll, and require separate perception checks to see through each veil?

I wonder if there’s anything out there that really deals with awareness and deception at a systemic level.

However, I am thrilled to see my friends interested and active in the political process, and I enjoy vicarious(3) hair-dyeing experiences, so I present to you the below combination. The lovely Sasen, pictured at left, is the artist.

Obamania Hits Hard
Originally uploaded by nimlabs

(1) I’ve since realized we have some incompatible beliefs about how much government is permitted inside one’s home, doctor’s office, etc. and negative campaign ads really turn me off. Also, the “We must suspend our campaigns to Solve The Economy” thing irritates me, since I didn’t want Congress to do anything in the first place.
(2) Politics is no longer an acceptable dinner table discussion when visiting inlaws or when they are visiting. Sometimes, keeping one’s mouth shut is essential for family harmony.
(3) I’ve never dyed my hair(4)—I’m the only woman in my family who can say that, and one of few of my friends, especially the female ones. But I was thrilled when it looked like one of my bridesmaids would have hair that (accidentally) matched the bridesmaid dresses(5), and I love some of the bright colors and Cool Stuff that my friends do with their hair.
(4) It’s too fragile—my hair is long, but it breaks at the slightest provocation.
(5) She decided to dye it back to brown shortly before the wedding, but we may have pictures from trying on dresses where it matches the slate-blue dress.