Dubious Quality

Friday Links!

Leading off this week, from Roger Robar, and this is the best explanation of the Monty Hall problem that I've ever read: The Time Everyone “Corrected” the World’s Smartest Woman.

From Meg McReynolds, and this is, well, not that surprising: Don't panic! How a rehearsal for a nuclear disaster descended into farce. Next, and this is outstanding, it's Yoga Joes: Plastic Green Soldiers Practicing Yoga.

From The Edwin Garcia Links Machine, and this is quite bouncy: PEOPLE ARE AWESOME (Xpogo Edition). Next, and this is excellent for you cinema buffs, it's What is neorealism? Next, and this is a truly stunning comic: Heavy Lights of January. Next, and this is a pretty fascinating experiment with MP3 compression, it's A ghoulish “Tom’s Diner” emerges from lost MP3 compression data.

From C. Lee, and here's an amazing guy: Osaka taxi operator wages campaign against hate speech. Next, and this is completely fascinating, it's If software looks like a brain and acts like a brain—will we treat it like one?

From Steven Davis, and this is very cool: Building a Working “Zoltar Speaks” Fortune Teller. Also, and this is fantastic, it's Fantastically Functional Lego Mechanical Loom. Next, and this is incredible, it's Demonstration of David Roentgen's Automaton of Queen Marie Antoinette, The Dulcimer Player. Next, more automaton, and it's spectacular: Alexandre Pouchkine by François Junod.

From Jonathan Arnold, and these are incredibly striking: Urban explorer reveals an abandoned world, frozen in time.

If you're curious about ISIS, this link from 3Suns is a thorough (and unnerving) explanation: What ISIS Really Wants.

From Tim Steffes, and this brings back good memories: Retired developer who created ‘NHL ‘94’ video game in Maine barn reflects on career.

posted by Bill Harris @ 12:03 AM

Reaction Time

You guys sent me a ton of interesting information, and in case any of you might find it useful, here's a link to the studies:
Increasing Speed of Processing With Action Video Games (thanks Matt C.)

A Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study on the Effects of Lutein and Zeaxanthin on Neural Processing Speed and Efficiency (thanks C. Lee)
I don't think that a supplement at Eli 13.6s age is a necessary option, but it's a fascinating possibility.

Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning (also from Steve Nygard)
Here's a brief description from the Amazon page:
Presents a compelling case for why we are attracted to the wrong strategies for learning and teaching—and what we can do to remedy our approaches… In clear language

Anticipation and Timing in Human Motor Performance (from Garret Rempel, of course)

posted by Bill Harris @ 3:10 PM

Well, Hello, Common Sense!

FCC Passes Strongest Net Neutrality Rules In America's History

In spite of the remarkable inability of American government to do the right thing, they somehow do it this time in spite of themselves. On a 3-2 vote, of course, because idiots and everything.

Still, though, a bright moment.

posted by Bill Harris @ 1:37 PM

Clearly, This is the Best Spam Ever

The random phrase combiner struck pure gold with this:
Stuyvesant died in 1672 and was interred in a vault under the chapel. Celtic fans and some reporters had argued the challenge was deemed worthy of a straight red.

posted by Bill Harris @ 12:59 PM

Reaction Time: It Takes a Village

I've been researching this for a while, and I realized that I should be asking you guys as well.

Eli 13.6 is a remarkable goalie for a kid his age. Terrific technique, super athleticism and agility, mentally tough--he's more as an athlete than I've ever been in my entire life.

And he works.

I've never seen a kid work so hard, and so intelligently. And I want to help him.

Athletically, I know how to help. He's doing some amazing dry land workouts to improve his athleticism, and his tennis is off the charts now (he hits the ball harder than I do, and I'm a solid player).

There's one piece, though, that would put him over the top and legitimately give him a chance to reach his goals.

Reaction time.

Average reaction time is in the 250ms range. Top goalies are much lower. And reaction time directly translates to more saves.

If I can find a way to help  him lower his reaction time by even 5%, it would be important. 10% would be huge.

The problem, though, is that there isn't much solid research into improving reaction time.

I think what I call the "overload" technique is established, but I can't find anything else. Overload is basically a technique where you practice an activity at higher speed than you would in competition. So, in this case, Eli would be seeing shots at a higher velocity than he'd ever see in a game, and over time, the brain rewires itself to accommodate the higher speeds.

There's another way to produce overload, and that's with strobe glasses. Basically, the glasses remove visual information at intervals by flashing from transparent to opaque (for example purposes, think of a film running at 24fps where every 4th frame is black, for example). So the brain has to calculate trajectory, speed, etc., with less information than it normally has.

So that's overload by addition (overspeed) and subtraction (removing information).

Those are both interesting techniques, but if there's anything else out there, I'd really like to know about it. So if you're aware of other research or methods, please let me know. Thanks.

posted by Bill Harris @ 3:42 PM

NFL Draft

Once again, it appears that everyone has forgotten the cardinal rule about quarterbacks: drafting quarterbacks from great college teams is very, very dicey. 

posted by Bill Harris @ 12:41 PM

The Musiquarium (Sloan: part two)

posted by Bill Harris @ 3:29 PM

The Musiquarium (Sloan: part one)

I am entirely delighted to present a new episode of "The Musiquarium", written by Chris Hornbostel. This time, he discusses one of the greatest bands you've never heard: Sloan.
**
It is October of 1994. Somewhere in the middle of Iowa at midnight, an old Winnebago is broken down on the side of a lonely state highway, engine still wafting oily smoke tendrils. It belongs to a Canadian band called Sloan. They’re a four-piece band, crammed in this camper van along with a sound guy and a buddy who works their merchandise table for a tour of the States that couldn't be going much worse. A few hours earlier, the sound guy accidentally filled both empty gas tanks in the van with diesel fuel instead of regular gas, effectively destroying the engine and leaving them stranded in the middle of nowhere.

Half the band have gone for help, the other half huddle inside, chugging a bottle of Jack Daniels. Things are bleak, and this breakdown is the culmination of a very bad year. What began as a real shot at the brass ring (they were signed to a lucrative contract with Geffen after playing only 11 live gigs) has turned into a death spiral for the group. They've just put out their second record, but their label hated it and has refused to promote it. The most popular newspaper in Canada issues a snidely terse dismissal of that record in a virulent, zero-star appraisal. They assume that being dumped from their contract at this point is an inevitable formality. And so here they are in the States, playing shows in front of perhaps a dozen indifferent audience members at a time, no CDs in stores, no airplay on radio. The van keeps breaking down. The band is riven by internal dissension, feuding, and feelings of betrayal. There’s a feeling in the back of everyone’s mind that this ill-fated “tour” needs to end so everyone can get home and the band can officially break up and they can all get on with their lives. Six weeks later, sitting in a conference call, that breakup happens with the band not so amicably calling it quits.

End of story.

Except it is isn't, not even remotely.

This is the story of that terrible record that Sloan put out in 1994, the one that got made despite bitter feelings in the band, and made working with a temperamental producer who seemed at best indifferent to what the group was interested in doing. It’s the story of a record that the group’s label, Geffen, wanted to refuse to issue. They eventually did put it out under duress, mostly because the band’s manager called in a contractual clause. Even so, the label swore they’d not spend a penny promoting it. The name of that terrible record was Twice Removed.

Before we jump into that story, though, let’s flash forward 2 years. It’s 1996. Chart Magazine--the Canadian equivalent of Billboard--has just run a poll to name the 10 best Canadian rock and roll albums of all time. As you can imagine, Neil Young figures prominently--Harvest is number two in the poll, with After The Goldrush also in the top five. Joni Mitchell’s landmark album Blue is number three. The Band is in the top ten of course.

And there, at number one in the 1996 poll, sits Twice Removed, by Sloan. The little album that couldn't, written during interpersonal band turmoil and recorded under miserable circumstances--yeah, that record. A few years later, Chart ran the same poll, and Mr. Young reclaimed the top spot….but there’s Twice Removed at number two, just the same. A couple of years after that, Sloan found their way back in at number one. This, then, isn't just the story of a band at the far end of its own rope making a troublesome sophomore effort. It’s also the story of one of the best rock and roll albums of the 1990s, one which unless you’re Canadian is likely a complete non-entity to you.

The story here starts with Sloan in the late 1980s. A group of school friends--in what was then a musical backwater in Halifax, Nova Scotia-- eventually came together from different musical backgrounds and scenes. Bassist Chris Murphy and guitarist Jay Ferguson were punk and indie rock kids. Guitarist Patrick Pentland was more of a metal guy. Drummer Andrew Scott--a working artist trying to sell his paintings--was into Dylan, as well as more esoteric stuff. They put out a first record called Smeared in 1991.

Listening to Smeared today one comes away with thinking that the album is kind of a mess. It’s their most disjointed record for one thing. The band’s main influences sound like the British noise-rock movement shoegaze, combined with the experimental art-rock of an American group like Sonic Youth. Everything is so loud, though, that you could be forgiven for thinking that this is a grunge record, given the era. The folks at Geffen thought as much, and when they signed Sloan and reissued Smeared in 1993, they figured they’d signed a Canadian version of another Geffen band, Nirvana.

There’s one song on Smeared that deserves note. It is a song called “Underwhelmed” . In it, Chris Murphy spins a clever tale of a faltering university romance with a French-Canadian girl art student who “rolls her r’s, her beautiful r’s.” The song is jammed with hooks and shows off Pentland’s ability to effortlessly harmonize with Murphy’s lead vocals. These were all harbingers of Sloan being a whole lot more than just another faceless early ‘90s grunge group. Of all the songs on Smeared, it is “Underwhelmed” that sounds the most like what the group would evolve into. Newly signed to Geffen, the label promptly sent the band out to tour for what seemed like an endless 10 week span of playing every night. It exhausted the group, who realized together that they were sort of tired of playing the noisy songs off Smeared.

As a band, they decided that they wanted to make a record that maybe didn't sound like so many of their grunge and alt-rock contemporaries. Something with a little more of a timeless sound to it. Something more modulated. It was while they were writing these songs that troubles began. Andrew Scott was recently married, and his wife found herself with a chance to make a career as an actress but needed to move to Toronto for that. For a painter like Scott, that offered far more opportunities than living in the Maritimes, so he was all in.

The rest of the band--particularly Scott’s closest friend in the group, Chris Murphy--felt betrayed. They were JUST getting started. They’d just signed a record contract with a big label...and now one of the guys in the band was moving away? It’s unclear just how deep the animosity ran, but it’s obvious now, looking back, that Scott’s move by itself nearly broke up the band right then, and at the very least caused an undercurrent of mistrust throughout the recording of their second record, Twice Removed.

That record was going to be their first recorded entirely for Geffen, and the record label wanted the band to do it up right. They put forward a huge advance for the record. They enlisted a hot producer, Jim Rondinelli, who’d engineered Matthew Sweet’s breakthrough album Girlfriend. They booked a two month session for the band at Lenny Kravitz’s prestigious Waterfront Studio in New York.

There were recording problems, though. Rondinelli was going through a difficult breakup with a girl and at times seemed distracted to the point of indifference to the recording session (to his credit, Rondinelli pulled together the sessions and did an outstanding mix of the album and it sounds terrific). For their part, the band was bewildered with what to do with two months in a studio with equipment used by Zeppelin and the Stones and REM and Kravitz. They’d recorded Smeared for $1200 in someone’s house in a few days. Murphy--who’d end up writing the majority of the songs for Twice Removed--felt the pressure most acutely. He knew how much money had been staked on the album, and he actually felt guilty about it. What if the record wasn't worth that amount of cash?

When the band finished up their sessions--which could sometimes be tumultuous, given the rift between Scott and the rest of the group--they handed off the mix to their manager, who dutifully presented it to Geffen. That’s when the very real problems began. Geffen eagerly took it in, hopeful to hear their Canadian version of Nirvana. What they heard was something else entirely, because Twice Removed sounds like many things, and none of those things are grunge. The label was nonplussed more than angry at first. What happened to the noisy, loud, fishing province kids who’d recorded Smeared? This sounded like a completely different band.

The band’s manager passed on the bad news to the group. The label wanted to spike the record they’d turned in. The band wasn't angry. Being nice Canadian boys that they were, they felt responsible. They’d been given stacks of cash to make a record and they felt like they’d let the label down. While the band discussed amongst themselves how to make things right (maybe re-record a few songs louder? Grungier?) their manager was back on the phone with Geffen, laying down the law. The record was done. The version the label had was the final version. Geffen said no way. The manager then reminded Geffen of a contractual passage that had been meant to give the group the artistic freedom it craved. That clause required the label to put out whatever the band delivered, no matter what. Fine, said the label’s management. We’ll put it out...but we’re not going to market or promote it at all. Geffen also made it clear: following whatever tour the band wanted to do, there would be a long discussion about whether they were going to continue as part of the label.

Sloan were pretty crushed by this. There was nothing defiant in their stance against the label, and Murphy has since expressed the opinion that what they should’ve done was hopped a plane to California, gotten cozy with the angry record executives, and found out what they wanted the record to sound like. Thankfully (it turns out, in retrospect) none of that happened. What did happen was that desultory tour with the Winnebago and Iowa. The band fared a bit better back in Canada doing some touring, but not much. Twice Removed came out in August of 1994. In December of that same year the band sat down in a conference call with Andrew Scott to try to hash out their future. That call ended with the band breaking up, under the mutual satisfaction of Geffen, who weren’t interested in putting out any future records by the group regardless.

Some strange things started happening, though. A number of publications in America, Canada, and Europe began putting that broken, misfit, ill-fitting record that Sloan recorded into their year-end top ten lists. There’s a reason for that, too. Despite the troubled creation--or perhaps because of it--Twice Removed is a tremendous record. You've never heard it? You like melodic, guitar-based rock and roll? Stop reading this now. Go listen to Twice Removed. Seriously.

posted by Bill Harris @ 3:37 PM

Friday Links!

Leading off this week, some terrific and special links. First, this is a terrific read: Billie Holiday: Jazz’s Aching Songbird. Next, the link to one of the most memorable televisions programs of the 1950s: The Sound of Jazz CBS 1957. Who was in this show? Count Basie, Billie Holiday, Coleman Hawkins, Thelonious Monk, and that barely scratches the surface (basically, everyone was in this). Then there's an absolutely fascinating bit of history:The Gorgeous Typeface That Drove Men Mad and Sparked a 100-Year Mystery.

From The Edwin Garcia Links Machine, and this is useful: DeathHacks Tech tips for people who are going to die (someday). Next, another video about Whittier, Alaska, which is accessible from the outside world only via tunnel: I Am A Whittier Teacher. Next, and this is quite a story: A rifle named Rosalie. This, though, is an even more incredible story: When a black German woman discovered her grandfather was the Nazi villain of 'Schindler's List'. I can't even begin to do this next video justice with a description (Alabama kid lives in the woods for two years), but it's entirely memorable: Harmony Korine's 'The Legend of Cambo'.

From C. Lee, and this is fascinating: In Japan, Dog Owners Feel Abandoned as Sony Stops Supporting ‘Aibo’.

From Steven Davis, and this is both interesting and odd: Carrot Clarinet. Next, and this is quite amazing: GimBall by Flyability: A collision-tolerant flying robot.

From Skip Key, and this is fantastic: Guerrilla Public Service.

From Sirius, and this is so, so beautiful: Sigiriya. Also, and this is very cool, it's The other side of the moon.

From Steven Kreuch, and these are some remarkable friends: Rambo Day.

From Eric Higgins-Freese, and this is a cautionary tale (among other things): How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco’s Life.

From Jeff Fowler, and this is amazing: a video shot for five seconds (in real time) at 1000 frames per second. Here you go: unconditional rebel - siska. Next, and this is awesome: Undercover restorers fix Paris landmark's clock.

posted by Bill Harris @ 12:04 AM

The Petting Stool

This is The Petting Stool:


The Petting Stool has rules, and Gracie knows them.
1. If someone is sitting in The Petting Stool, they are immediately petted.
2. If someone is not sitting in The Petting Stool, they are subject to immediate removal.

This means that anytime Gracie is in my study, mucking around and messing things up (a hobby for all cats), she will sprint to The Petting Stool as soon as I decide to notice her and make General Noises of Dissatisfaction.

posted by Bill Harris @ 2:06 PM

Gaming News Bits

Rock, Paper, Shotgun has Early Access impressions of Offworld Trading Company.

Remember the greatness that was Frozen Synapse? Well, the sporting version--Frozen Cortex--launched today, and it looks tremendous. Steam link: Frozen Cortex.

It seems to me that we're in one of the finest gaming eras ever. There is a dizzying number of sensational games from smaller/indie developers. Innovation, excellent design, and good value.

On the big company side, we have a bloated QTE experience like The Order: 1886, released today after endless hype, which is currently pulling an absolutely expected 68 on Metacritic. Ouch.

You can't afford to innovate if you're charging $60 for a game (and a short one, at that).

The entire economic model for $60 games seems to have collapsed. Yes, there are still annual franchises being milked, but new franchises at that price point have essentially vanished.

That's okay, though. Most of those games weren't any damn good, anyway. The small indie games are--in the best cases--being built with so much care and craftmanship that they're a real pleasure to play, and there are so many indie games that if even 5% excel, we have a huge variety to choose from.

Oh, and while I'm mentioning games, don't forget Rebel Galaxy. It's already fantastic, and will only get more so by the time it releases.

posted by Bill Harris @ 1:57 PM

Offworld Trading Company

Soren Johnson was kind enough to send me a Steam code for Offworld Trading Company last week, and I've been playing it since then. These impressions are based on 12 hours of play.

It's been 12 very, very good hours.

The game is in Early Access on Steam, but in no way is it in the early stages of development. It's polished and well-balanced and fully playable, with plenty of content.

The premise of Offworld Trading Company is simple. Corporations are engaged in offworld exploration for profit, and they exploit the planet for everything they can extract. The ultimate goal is to buy out the other corporations (via stock purchases) and be the sole presence on the planet.

How do you do make money? By selling resources you've either mined (like silicon) or created (like glass). All of the resources of the game have market prices, and these prices fluctuate over time, based on supply and demand.

When you begin a game, your HQ is at level one, which gives you a limited amount of resource claims. Every time you upgrade your HQ, you get additional claims. You're never going to have as many claims as you want, though, so each one is an exercise in deciding what you need most.

Sounds straightforward, right?

Even more straightforward, there is no combat, which is hugely refreshing.

There are, however, absolutely enormous amounts of sabotage and dirty dealings. Enormous! So what might appear straightforward on the surface is not so straightforward at all. The other corporations are utterly ruthless bastards, and they are hellbent on destroying you.

In addition to all that, there's this word: pressure. To me, this is the defining word for Offworld Trading Company.  Every second, there is decision-making pressure, and I mean this as a compliment to the design, which is rock-solid.

Here's an example of how, from the very first second, there is pressure. When a new round begins, you're on a map with other players, and you can all reveal a small portion of the map every few seconds. This shows you the types and quantities of resources available in that small area.

Theoretically, you could just take your time and eventually reveal 100% of the planet's resources, right? Well, no. You're trying to scout a location for your HQ, and you need to place it as soon as possible, because then you can start mining/producing. Meanwhile, the other corporations are doing the same, so it's a mad dash to find a suitable location and get started. If you want to have a chance of succeeding, you reveal resources until you see just enough for your particular strategy, and then you immediately set up your HQ.

An example: on one map, I revealed a few high deposits of iron, but only a few. Iron is a critical resource, because it's a requirement to produce steel, which is needed for base upgrades and all kinds of buildings. So with only a few iron tiles revealed, I put down my base, hoping that the other corporations would follow suit before any more iron tiles had been revealed.

Then I used almost all of my early claims to monopolize the existing iron tiles.

In the end, there was a huge shortage of iron during the round, prices soared, and when I sold my sizable surpluses, I had enough cash to buy out the other corporations and win the round. It was incredibly satisfying, to find and exploit that situation.

That sounds like an obvious strategy, but only because it's logical, and that's one of the truly delightful aspects of OTC: it makes sense. Do things that should logically work, and they will. The game system is very transparent and easy to understand. That doesn't mean it's easy to master--it's certainly not--but it's definitely transparent.

Something else tremendously satisfying about this game is that it plays like a symphony. There are so many different resources, so many decisions, so much to do (and always at a high pace) that it's possible to reach this incredibly immersed state where data is processed at an unbelievable rate inside your head. The nature of the game requires that kind of focus, and the feeling you get with that level of focus is just fantastic.

Helping process all this data is the interface, which is very, very clean. All the information you need is right in front of you--again, a high level of transparency.

Visually, the game is quite striking. That's very pleasant, and I enjoy the visuals, but even if everything were ass-ugly, this would still be a tremendous game.

My only quibble at this point is that rounds can end with breathtaking speed when other corporations (or, hopefully, you) amass enough cash to buy large amounts of stock quickly. It's so sudden that I miss a more gradual transition into the end game, some time to savor my victory (or stave off my defeat).

That is a very, very small complaint compared to all the positives, though. Offworld Trading Company is a wonderful piece of design, and its transparency is a lesson that all developers could learn from.

Here's the Steam page: Offworld Trading Company.

posted by Bill Harris @ 4:40 PM

Sunless Sea (12 hours)

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time... like tears in rain.
Batty, "Blade Runner"

I am Batty, but in a different world, one of Victorian Gothic wonder. I sail the Unterzee with my fearful crew, searching for adventures and incredible tales to share when I return to my beautiful Fallen London.

Sunless Sea is a Cabinet of Curiosities unlike any other.

Fearsome beasts, fanciful tales, a world so strange and fantastic that it compels you to explore it all. This is a world streaked with fear, then terror, then madness, and if you cannot still your pounding heart, you will not survive.

What do you do? You sail the seas. You experience incredible and strange societies. You stay above the law, or perhaps choose to go somewhat beneath it.

Around you, always around you, are words. Beautiful, elegant words. An example:
Sizzling vapours rise from the sea. Time slips, sideways. A coil of rope has stung a stoker, and his fellows beat it to death. We are under the hand of The Iron Republic.

posted by Bill Harris @ 1:02 PM

Make Better Decisions (Valentine's Day Edition)

An Einstein's clerk. Young.

"So, did you get your lady something special for Valentine's Day?" he asked.

"Um, yes," I said.

"I'm making some bacon roses for my lady," he said. "You cook the bacon in the shape of a rose and then just slide it on the stick."

"Well, that's certainly something," I said.

He leaned over the counter and lowered his voice. "Chicks say they don't like bacon"--he pauses for dramatic effect--"but they do. They totally do."

Good luck with that, sir.

posted by Bill Harris @ 5:15 PM

Possibilities

Here's the headline: City officials: E. Austin piñata store OK’d for demolition.

They use a giant bat, right?

posted by Bill Harris @ 5:12 PM

Friday Links!

Leading off this week, from Meg McReynolds, and this is just GREAT: The mystery of Mingering Mike: the soul legend who never existed.

From Jonathan Arnold, and this is a tremendous read: The Man Who Tried to Redeem the World with Logic: Walter Pitts rose from the streets to MIT, but couldn’t escape himself.

From The Edwin Garcia Links Machine, and is a very funny Richard Scarry tribute, it's Business Town. Next, and this is a terrific read, it's The Untold Story of the Invention of the Game Cartridge. Here's a fascinating bit of history about the original Macintosh computer: Monkey Lives. Another, and it's a great idea for a city like Seattle: When it rains in Seattle, you might see a hidden sidewalk message — if you’re paying attention.

From Matt Kreuch, and this is entirely wonderful, it's What the Music Behind Some of the Worst Album Covers of All Time Actually Sounds Like.

From Ken Piper, and this is a terrific read: How Soviet Hipsters Saved Rock 'N' Roll With X-Ray Records.

From Sirius, and this is amazing: Lego contraption allows scientists to safely handle insects. Also, and I have no words, it's Extreme body modifications: Piercings, tattoos and implants on show in Caracas.

From Steven Davis, and this is mesmerizing: Rolex Submariner Watchmaking Demonstration. Also, and this is fascinating, it's How the Civil War Created College Football.

This guy is down in my neck of the woods: The Pro Dumpster Diver Who’s Making Thousands Off America’s Biggest Retailers.

This is incredibly depressing, but also incredibly important to document: History of Lynchings in the South Documents Nearly 4,000 Names.

Ending the week, this is 100% wonderful: Darwin's Kids Doodled All Over His "Origin of Species" Manuscript.

posted by Bill Harris @ 12:09 AM

Pictures!

I don't know about you, but I can't wait to spend time at this park:


When you spend a ton of time at a rink, and you use hand warmers because your hands and feet get desperately cold no matter what you do, you will eventually find additional uses for the hand warmers:


That's right. Muffin warmer. The also do an excellent job of heating prepackaged chocolate chip cookies. Just slip one into your jacket pocket, add a handwarmer, and zip the pocket shut. Five minutes later, you have a cookie with melted chocolate chips.

I can't remember if I used this previously, so here it is:


I was unaware of the existence of "Turkish superfruit." It's just impossible to keep up with country-specific superfruits these days.

posted by Bill Harris @ 2:31 PM

Dagger

A local television station reported this story on their website:
LA GRANGE, Texas (KXAN) – One person is in custody and deputies are seeking a second in connection with the theft of several valuable coins from a Fayette County family.

Deputies tell KXAN the theft was reported on January 30th.

It wasn’t clear how many coins or what type of coins were taken.

KXAN News is following the story and will update this article as more information becomes available.

Here was the first comment below the story:
Wow. What a fascinating story. I feel as if I were there.

Well-played, sir. Well-played.

posted by Bill Harris @ 1:56 PM

Why We Can't Have Nice Things (Follow-up)

This story keeps expanding: Loss Of Faith: Will Godus Ever Have A God Of Gods?. And in that story, RPS references a terrific Eurogamer article that's here: The God who Peter Molyneux forgot: For Curiosity winner Bryan Henderson, the prize inside the cube has been anything but life-changing.

In case you've forgotten, Peter Molyneux put out a game several years ago called "Curiosity--What's Inside the Cube?" There was a cube, and everyone tapped on it it.

Seriously. That was the game.

As many, many people tapped on the cube, parts of it fell away, revealing more layers. Finally, though, after millions of taps, Bryan Henderson from Edinburgh made the final tap and was declared the winner. Here's an excerpt from the accompanying video:
You, the person who has reached the centre, will be the god of all players. You will intrinsically decide on the rules that the game is played by," Molyneux said in the video. "And here's the life-changing bit: you will share in the success of the product. Every time people spend money on the product, you will get a small piece of the pie.

Life changing and all that. Bryan Henderson was going to "The God of Gods."

Except, several years later, nothing's happened at all. Bryan has received the grand total of zero moneys. Also, 22cans stopped contacting him.

I strongly encourage you to read "The God Who Peter Molyneux Forgot" link referenced in the first paragraph, because it explores the disaster in greater detail. And you'll get more mealy-mouthed quotes from Molyneux, who seems positively unable to answer questions in a direct manner. Here's a good example:
Guaranteeing is a very strong word," he replies when I press him on the matter. "There are so many new technologies we are trying to implement. If all goes well, absolutely it should happen. I want it to happen. I think we need it to happen. With all the press that went on with Bryan, why wouldn't we make that happen?

What was the question? Does it even matter? It's an astonishing bit of dissembling.

Eurogamer pressed Molyneux on the same subject:
Guaranteeing sounds like I have to put my life on the line, but we will make every effort to make this happen, yes. We've got the skilled people here to make that happen. Our finance director has been accruing the revenues ready for when it starts happening, and then we'll switch on and then he'll get the revenues, and then the God of Gods role should happen the way we want it to happen.

What an incredible non-answer.

The tremendous irony here is that Molyneux's core audience, and possibly his most loyal one, consists of people who remember Populous. And he has utterly abandoned all of us.

There's one action that clearly needs to be taken here if Peter Molyneux is going to save what's left of his reputation. He needs to announce that he's suspending work on "The Trail" and putting his entire team back on Godus.

Obviously, this won't happen, because if Molyneux was making good decisions, he wouldn't be in this mess to start with. He clearly has no understanding of his responsibilities when he accepts $800,000+ in Kickstarter donations.

You know, his responsibility to make the game he promised to make.

Is anyone going to buy his next game? I hope not. I won't.

posted by Bill Harris @ 11:26 AM

Ticket Brokers

I put up a post about ticket brokers last week, and here's a terrifically interesting look at what they do during Super Bowl week:
Maseratis, Hookah Bars and Cash by the Bagful: On the Trail of the $10,000 Super Bowl Ticket.

posted by Bill Harris @ 1:48 PM

Why We Can't Have Nice Things (And Why We Can)

I've defended Peter Molyneux on the premise that his failures are usually more interesting than other people's successes. And this is true, up to a point.

Then we have Godus.

The Kickstarter for Godus raised £526,563 (that converts to roughly $832,000). That's quite a bit of money, isn't it?

This is not $800,000+ given to an amateur. Molyneux (according to Moby Games) has 19 game design credits and 11 production credits, dating all the way back to 1989. He's been making games for over a quarter of a century.

Here's what the Kickstarter backers of Godus have received: a big, steaming pile.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun dove into the depths yesterday and emerged with this: Oh Godus, What The Hell’s Going On? Here are a few excerpts:
...the team currently working on the game have recently acknowledged that they, “simply can’t see us delivering all the features promised on the kickstarter page.

So what is the state of the development? It sounds as if the developers themselves do not quite know. Designer Konrad Naszynski has recently been added to the team and is being impressively frank about his experiences on the Godus message boards. As well as stating that he doesn’t believe the Kickstarter promises are achievable, he added, “a lot of the multiplayer stuff is looking seriously shaky right now especially the persistent stuff like hubworld.” And more recently he has posted to explain how “frustrated” he is with the speed at which he’s able to bring change. 

The very short version of the current situation is that the mobile version of Godus is stuffed with ass-gouging microtransactions and represents most of what everyone hates about F2P games. That was the version that was actually released as "complete", I guess.

The PC version is an utter mess and is still being sold as an Early Access game for $19.99.

Molyneux, at one point, blamed Kickstarter:
There’s this overwhelming urge to over-promise because it’s such a harsh rule: if you’re one penny short of your target then you don’t get it. And of course in this instance, the behaviour is incredibly destructive, which is ‘Christ, we’ve only got 10 days to go and we’ve got to make £100,000, for fuck’s sake, lets just say anything’. So I’m not sure I would do that again.

Stupefying. Again, this is someone who has been making games for 25 years.

In response, 22cans made this stunningly inept video in response: 22cans Confirm Godus Team Shrinkage, Admit Mistakes. It's 17 minutes long, but I encourage you to watch this, just to watch human beings disintegrate before your very eyes. It is nothing short of pathetic.

Is this an indictment of Kickstarter as a fatally broken process? No.

Hell, no.

Sunless Sea. Kickstarter of £100,803 (about $150,000). A brilliant, fascinating game, with an incredible amount of world depth. If it's not the game of the year, it will be one of the nominees.

Darkest Dungeon. Kickstarter of $313,337. It just reached early access, and it kicks ass beyond my wildest dreams. It's a spectacular game, even in its ongoing-development state.

Sunless Sea and Darkest Dungeons might not exist without Kickstarter, and they are excellent examples of how wonderfully Kickstarter has created opportunities for games that might not otherwise exist.

So there is no question that this is not a failure of Kickstarter. This is 100% a failure of Peter Molyneux.

Peter, grow the f--- up, would you? Stop acting like a bored ten-year-old who never finishes his homework.

posted by Bill Harris @ 11:50 AM

Dean Smith

Dean Smith passed away on Saturday.

I have railed against college coaches in the past--for good reasons--but Dean Smith was different. He cared about right and wrong beyond the confines of the basketball facility. He was a fundamentally decent man. He took strong, principled stands throughout his career, and college athletics would mean much more than it does if there were more men like him.

If you'd like to read about what made him special, this is a good place to start:
A Credible Saint: How Dean Smith Became North Carolina's Moral Compass.

Here's an excerpt, but for a reason that relates to Eli 13.6 and me:
He learned how to apply Marshall's lessons directly to coaching. Giving up in that context meant teaching his players to surrender to the present moment in practice and in games, not to fret about something that was beyond their control in either the future or the past. They were to let go of what they could not control. He helped them—and himself—side-step the self-immolating demands of victory at all costs. "When we talked to our team over the years," he told me, "our emphasis was always play hard, play smart, and play together. We didn't mention winning. The emphasis was on process versus end result." Many would find it ironic that a coach famous for controlling everything he could ultimately believed in letting go. But the most important lesson of all, one that had generated decades of loyalty from his former players, was Smith's equal treatment of every player, from benchwarmers to stars. He wanted to show them that their value as human beings was separate from their performance on the court.

What really struck me reading this paragraph is that I talk to Eli all the time about staying in the moment during a game. I call it "being clear", where he sees everything in front of him with no other thoughts. And we talk about process instead of result all the time. When he puts in good work, the results almost always follow. So it was very neat to see that a coach I admire so much believed in some of the same things I'm trying to teach Eli.

posted by Bill Harris @ 4:38 PM

Better Call Saul

We watched the debut episode last night and it was utterly brilliant. So if you were on the fence, trust me--get off the fence.

The opening sequence was one of my favorite moments of television ever. I could have looped that for an hour.

posted by Bill Harris @ 3:53 PM

Friday Links!

Hey look, it's a confederacy of dunces: Vaccine Critics Turn Defensive Over Measles. And here's the correct response: Penn & Teller Destroy Anti-Vaxxers In 90 Seconds.

From The Edwin Garcia Links Machine, and this excellent: BOOKER T. & THE MGS COVER THE BEATLES’ ‘ABBEY ROAD’. Next, and this is incredible, it's Chinese company 3D prints cement chateau and 5 storey apartment building. This is stunning: Colossal Cave Adventure. Next, and this isn't stunning at all, but it's quite funny: He-gassen.

From Tim Lesnick, and I have no words: Jacobson's Fabulous Olfactometer.

From J.R. Parnell, and this is a fascinating read: The AI Revolution: The Road to Superintelligence. And here's an additional bit: The AI Revolution: Our Immortality or Extinction. Also, and this is quite useful, it's Everything You Don’t Know About Tipping.

This is a terrific article: The Polygraph Has Been Lying for 80 Years.

From C. Lee, and if you ever have an appointment in Ethiopia, you definitely need to read this: If you have a meeting in Ethiopia, you'd better double check the time.

From Sirius, and this is entirely brilliant: 3D Printed ‘Cool Bricks’ Can Cool an Entire Room Using Water.

From Eric Higgins-Freese, and this is wildly entertaining: Rope A Dope 2 - Groundhog Day Battle (Wake, Fight, Repeat). So is this: One Man’s Quest to Rid Wikipedia of Exactly One Grammatical Mistake.

From Kez, and depending on the team you follow (hello, Buffalo!), this might be very useful: 2015 NHL Draft Lottery Simulator. Also, this is a worthy endeavor: #tweetsweet.

From Les Bowman, and this makes for excellent reading: Chipotle: The Definitive Oral History.

posted by Bill Harris @ 12:06 AM

Game Detectives Results

Thanks for all the excellent responses to the Game Detectives post! Here are the answers you sent. When a game gets mentioned, I bold it.

Oh, and a blast from the past--Moonbase Commander--gets mentioned. That was an absolutely stellar game.

From Jim Riegel:
Honestly, you’ve mentioned it before and I know it’s not precisely what he wants, but Last Federation may well scratch the itch he wants, given the relationship building, minimal queue management, etc.  I’d argue King of Dragon Pass should also be one he really take a look at.  Neither is quite the 4x he’s looking for, but both have enough components of the genre combined with how to spends assets (time in TLF, magic in KoDP) as well as management relations, gaining influence, etc.

From C. Lee:
No exact matches, but Seven Kingdoms: Ancient Adversaries sounds pretty close:
http://www.gog.com/game/seven_kingdoms_ancient_adversaries

On Steam, some possibilities are Shogun 2, Crusader Kings 2, and Sengoku:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/201270/
http://store.steampowered.com/app/203770/
http://store.steampowered.com/app/73210/

As for games with the individual traits he described:
In terms of limited commands per turn, King of Dragon Pass:
http://www.gog.com/game/king_of_dragon_pass
In terms of the board game/computer game mix, Chaos Overlords:
http://www.gog.com/game/chaos_overlords
In this vein, there’s also the wonderful Culdcept Saga for Xbox 360:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000Q0ASEW/

Also a version for PS2:
http://www.amazon.com/Culdcept-playstation-2/dp/B0000CG8F9

In terms of the fantasy setting, Dragon Force, which appeared on the Sega Saturn. Sadly,
this is insanely expensive now:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Force

He could also try Ogre Battle, which is on the Wii’s Virtual Console:
http://www.nintendolife.com/reviews/2009/03/ogre_battle_the_march_of_the_black_queen_vir
tual_console

Follow-up from C. Lee:
Actually, I can think of one game that has the wealth of strategic possibilities, lack of busywork, and limited commands that Chris was talking about -- Fate of the World:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/901776/

It even features the same dynamic of being able to execute more actions the more your influence grows. No fantasy background, however.

Sean McCulloch:
It's probably not exactly what he's looking for, but the board game Magic Realm has a lot of Alamaze-like elements, and there is a java client that enforces the rules for you, so you can play it.   You're an adventurer looking to get treasure and kill monsters in Magic Realm, instead of running
an empire, so if he's specifically looking for an empire game, it may not fit.  But it does have the "limited actions per turn" thing he was talking about.

It's not really a "computer game" per se, but the board game is pretty complex (though not as much as Alamaze), and you really need the Java client to manage it.  I don't know that I'd personally want to play a face to face game, having to keep track of all of the tiny rules.

The page is here:
http://realmspeak.dewkid.com/

They say you need a copy of the game, but I think if you just have a copy of the rules (available on that page) you can muddle through. I know that I basically learned how to play the phsyical game by playing RealmSpeak and then looking in the rules to see why things happened.

There's also the Magic Realm wiki:
http://triremis.com.au/wiki-mr/pmwiki.php?n=Main.HomePage

Sebastian Mankowski:
One game I would recommend would be Endless Legend; although it does have the build queue issue that he mentions not liking, I find the city automation takes care of it sufficiently and the game also has a very similar influence mechanic which he may like.

He might also want to check out Neptune's Pride (and/or Neptune's Pride 2), it has a similar feel to Vic Davis' games but writ large and with more player against player scheming and machinations. Biggest drawback might be the multiplayer nature of it.

J:
Job One would be to point Chris toward Amplitude, developers of the Endless 4Xes and allied trades. They concentrate so hard on making each faction in their games have some paradigmatic gonzo rule that I wouldn't be surprised if there were one that followed that exact system. There's bound to be something close, in any case, and they're also amazing games in general.

He may also want to check out Warlock II, which didn't make much of a splash and I haven't played - but it's supposed to be quite good and features, at least, an active cities cap that sort of mimics the orders mechanic that's common in wargames.

The next tier out is Arcen/Chris Park's stuff. I'm thinking in particular of AI War's constant juggling of whether the next target is worth the wrath it'll unleash upon you, and The Last Federation, a 4X played from the POV of a single powerful unit within it, where you literally earn and decide where and when to spend Influence with a couple of the races.

Finally, a bit more of a reach but logically connected at the other end of the spectrum are the 4Xes in which you only get to move one unit per turn, so priority becomes all and time is literally money. I think I had another that's unfortunately slipped my mind, but anyway the one that most occupies my brain is Moonbase Commander, a fast-paced turn-based artillery 4X yes you read all that right from 2002. that nobody played. The purity of its design interactions is just beyond anything else I've seen, and it's great fun to boot.

And finally finally, to answer your query rather than his, not having played Alamaze it sounds like nothing so much as Chaos by Julian Gollop, now in the process of being reborn as Chaos Reborn.

From Dennis Bond:
Haven't heard of anything exactly like Alamaze. The closest I've seen to the "influence" mechanism described is the board game Eclipse, which is a fantastic 4X game:
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/72125/eclipse

It's currently rated #8 in the world, and is well worth a play. In the game, influence is used up as territory expands and as actions are taken in a turn. Actions also cause the cost of running your empire to go up.

posted by Bill Harris @ 4:28 PM

Email Ugh

I had a hiccup with e-mail this morning, so if you e-mailed me and don't hear back, the message was bounced and I never received it. Fixed now.

posted by Bill Harris @ 4:17 PM

Make Better Decisions #2015-1

Hmm.


Is wearing pantyhose with casual shorts a thing? I'm the worst person in the world for fashion, but even I'm pretty sure that this should not be a thing.

Next, and this could either be a Make Better Decisions scenario or The Most Awesome Family in the World scenario. Just look through the wind screen and see what's going on outside the tennis court:


Here's what happened. I'm playing tennis with Eli 13.5, and next to us, four people and an instructor are working out in the parking lot next to us. From a van. So a random van pulls up, workout guy pops out, and then a family comes along and starts working out.

I guess it's kind of a rogue gym setup.

posted by Bill Harris @ 9:08 PM

If You Watch Parks and Recreation...

Clearly, Ron Swanson did more than just play the saxophone in his earlier days.

posted by Bill Harris @ 8:55 PM

Boom Goes The Dynamite

Something happened at the Super Bowl this year, but I don't see anyone talking about it yet.

"Ticket brokers" make their nut at the Super Bowl. It's the most consistently profitable event of the year for reselling tickets, and people make a small fortune.

Here's how it works. There are a TON of ads offering Super Bowl ticket deals, or just tickets outright, in the weeks leading up to the game. And the way it normally works is that a ticket broker takes your money without actually having a ticket in hand. He'll charge you $2000, wait for the hysteria over the game to die down, and then buy your ticket on Friday or Saturday before the game for $1500 or less.

That's how it basically works. The ticket broker is "selling short" in effect, promising something he doesn't have in the belief that he can buy it for less than you paid him.

That's always worked, and like I said, this is a big money situation.

This year, though, prices went up from $2000--and never came down. Late Saturday, the cheapest seat available (and it was a very crappy seat) cost $9,000. There was no period of time where the prices dropped.

So ticket brokers must have had the living daylights hammered out of them, incurring massive losses. And I'm guessing some people showed up to the Super Bowl after having paid for tickets and never got them, because it would have bankrupted some brokers.

Messy.

posted by Bill Harris @ 2:59 PM

Argghhh

Instead of writing about idiot anti-vaxxers and the politicians who pander to them (as part of a longer thought about how we've spent the last three decades legitimizing stupidity instead of respecting intelligence), I'm going to take a deep breath and post a magnificent sun dogs picture from DQ VB.NET And Extreme Cold Weather Advisor Garret Rempel:



Plus, just now, I remembered that there was a PC game called Sundog: Frozen Legacy released in 1984 for the Apple II (1985 for Atari ST), and it was pretty damn good:


Thanks to Moby Games for the screenshot as well as this description:
You just inherited a one-man star freighter - the SunDog - from an uncle who died under mysterious circumstances. You also inherited the contract he signed to aid in the building of a colony for a religious group. You have three tasks to perform: find the location of the colony; find, buy, and deliver goods needed for its construction; and locate the cryogenically-frozen colonists needed to populate the colony.

posted by Bill Harris @ 2:53 PM

Calling All Game Detectives

An e-mail from Chris:
I'm writing for a couple reasons. You see and hear enough that maybe I somehow missed it out there in the vast gaming world. And two, maybe I'm not alone?

I grew up with both board games and computer games. It's rare, to almost non-existent, that I've found a computer game that's a good blend. The 4x games come closest, though they usually descend into minutia like building queues (often almost the same) on 17 different cities.

Vic Davis' games, particularly Solium Infernum, might be about as close to an example of the blend.

There was a play-by-mail game called Alamaze, run by a guy I'd become good friends with over the years of playing, Phil McDowell, brother of its creator. Sadly, Phil died of cancers a few years back.

It had a 26x26 board, filled with 3 different sized towns. You had armies, wizards, diplomats, and agents. You could stomp around the board with armies conquering towns. You could sway the towns with diplomats. You could augment armies with wizards, or incapacitate diplomats, or other such things with wizards. Agents could sabotage towns, wizards, kings, and other things.

It was great. So many options, ways to combine strengths. And it had a mechanic I've never seen in a 4x computer game, a limited set of commands you could give based on "influence". Raising your influence so you could issue more commands was a key part of kingdom management. Every 4x games I've ever played, you could command everything every turn. 

That act of having to decide what parts of your kingdom was most important to manipulate was probably THE core mechanic that was simultaneously awesome and maddening. 

It was sort of a 4x kingdom management. As I browse the Steam list tonight, I can't anything remotely like this game.

Ever heard of anything like it in the computer game world? Sound like something that should exist?

Detective Squad, assemble! What game do you think most closely resembles the play-by-mail game Alamaze?

posted by Bill Harris @ 4:42 PM

Super Bowl

Even though football doesn't mean nearly as much to me as it used to, I still think yesterday's Super Bowl was my favorite (and I've watched all 49, believe it or not).

First off, there's Chris Matthews, a rookie receiver for the Seahawks, who was working as a security guard at Foot Locker in the offseason. He'd been cut by the Browns, played two years in the CFL, and was cut by the Seahawks in the preseason, but joined the practice squad. Then he was cut from the practice squad, then resigned, then cut, then resigned. After he was promoted to the 53-man roster six weeks ago, he played almost exclusively on special teams and didn't have a single catch.

So, of course, in the Super Bowl, he had 4 catches for 109 yards, and two of those catches were big-time.

Even better--incredibly--is the story of Malcolm Butler, the cornerback whose interception saved the game for the Patriots. He played college football at Division II West Alabama (opponents included Shorter, Stillman, and West Georgia). He'd only been averaging 10 plays a game on defense, but when the Patriots made an adjustment to help them handle Chris Matthews, and part of that adjustment was to get Butler on the field.

Here's what people are missing about the end of the game: Butler made two great plays, not one. On Jermaine Kearse's incredible catch, Butler had the presence of mind to assume the ball was still live, even though he lost sight of it when he rolled over. In most cases, Kearse just walks into the end zone for a touchdown, because the catch was so unlikely and unusual that players wouldn't react normally.

Then, two plays later, he makes the right formation read (preparation) and makes one of the greatest plays in Super Bowl history.

So this was the Super Bowl of Underdogs, hence my favorite.

posted by Bill Harris @ 3:42 PM