(no subject)

I spend another evening with TGS (edit: The Gamers' Society)..

It's a great club, but a lot of these board and card games have a certain problem: when newbies are introduced to the game, every player's turn takes ten minutes. The seasoned players' turns still take five minutes because they have to field questions about the move they're making. And sometimes both types of players get into discussions about the kinds of moves that are possible if things go a certain way.

This is a bigger problem in games where turns have multiple phases. I remember being especially confused about Groo, an otherwise simple game, because each player takes turns rolling the dice, and between dice rolls, each player takes a turn "spending" the dice. Perhaps the manual makes a better semantic distinction, perhaps by calling the dice-rolling turn a "round" or something, but I don't remember that being discussed aloud.

In the meantime, I need to order a new monocular, so I can read face-up cards. And maybe I'll get one of these Steve Jackson games and have some people over to play.

(no subject)

"Here's my personal book of pick up lines. Say as many as you can, as fast as you can, and don't stop for any reason!" - Zapp Brannigan

Kibo's clever comebacks for a published list of 101 such lines. Will he get bored before he finishes all 101 of them? Tune in and find out!

(no subject)

1. Supporters claim that the phenomena are real, but no real evidence exists to verify that claim.

2. The phenomena are said to "work" by means that are not possible, based on what we already know with great certainty, about the real world.

3. The evidence for the phenomena presented is anecdotal, not scientific, and none of the "scientific" findings made by supporters have been independently replicated.

4. When attempted independent replications of the phenomena fail, supporters invoke special conditions and exceptions for their claims, and often state that these cannot be tested by "ordinary" science.

5. Supporters of the claims invoke such words as, "vibrations," memory," "quantum," "spiritual," and "infinite," without knowledge of, or respect for, the actual meanings of such terms.

6. The claimed discovery is of such a nature and scope, that if true, it would have radically changed the face of science, our way of life, and our perception of the real world: that has not happened.