Blackmoor Vituperative

Half a billion dollars, twice a year. Not to mention the needless deaths and injuries. Stop the madness!

[…]the phenomenon known as daylight saving time can disrupt people’s lives to the point where society experiences an increase in heart attacks, workplace injuries (particularly in the mining and construction business) and more aimless web surfing that hurts overall productivity. Collectively, the sudden jolt forward costs the U.S. economy $433,982,548 in 2010, according to an analysis by research firm Chmura Economics & Analytics.

[…]

And while the whole point of losing an hour of sleep was to save energy, there’s research that suggests the practice doesn’t even confer any such benefit. One illustrative example is the unique case of Indiana, which up until a few years ago, only 15 of the state’s 92 counties observed DST. Researchers at the University of California-Santa Barbara compared the electric meter readings registered during the time period before the change to the overall usage after and found that residents ended up paying $8.6 million more than we would have if they stayed on Standard time.

(From “U.S. economy lost $433,982,548 because of daylight saving time”, SmartPlanet)

I have been watching Sling & Arrows, a Canadian show about the theatre. It’s like Glee, but with better writing and no musical numbers (which also makes it better than Glee). It reminds me a great deal of Smash, although it has no musical numbers (which, again, makes it better than Smash). Here’s the thing: that camaraderie the cast feels on the completion of a successful show… I have felt that. Not often. Not after the conclusion of a successful convention (I was on the staff of a local SF&F convention for most of its history). The last time I felt that esprit de corps was probably back in the late1980s, after a successful performance of Rocky Horror (in which I was a cast member for a few years). I imagine (rather, I assume) that it’s the same feeling that members of a sports team feel at the end of a good game. It’s a good feeling. Even then memory of it is a good feeling.

I was a Gaming guest at MystiCon 2013 in Roanoke, VA. With the permission of my fellow panelists, I recorded most of the panels I was on. I hope you find them interesting.

Friday

• Gaming For Beginners
  (Bob Flack (M), Steve Long, Brandon Blackmoor, Rachael Hixon, Greg Porter)
• Game Development
  (Brandon Blackmoor (M), Mike McPhail, John Meagher, Charles Matheny, Greg Porter)

Saturday

• Conversation With Steve Long
  (Steve Long, Brandon Blackmoor (M))
• Blog Much?
  (James Fulbright (M), Brandon Blackmoor, David Halperin, John Hartness, Sharon Stogner, Steven H. Wilson)
• Ouch! You Bit Me! Zombie Survival Guide
  (Brandon Blackmoor (M), Anita Allen, Jaysen Buterin, Scott Nicholson, Nelson Oliver, “The Bruce” Scholl)

Sunday

• Artistry Of Gaming
  (Brandon Blackmoor (M), Larry Elmore, Steve Long, Jason Oliveira)
• If They Came In Saucers, Why Are We Smarter?
  (Brandon Blackmoor (M), Chris Berman, Tony Finkelstein, Billy Flynn, Steve Long, Dieter Warringhouse)

Here is my MystiCon 2013 schedule, in case you are interested in that sort of thing.

Fri 8:00 PM
Ballroom D
Gaming for Beginners

Fri 9:00 PM
Ballroom E
Game Development

Sat 10:00 AM
Ballroom C
A Conversation with Steve Long (I’m interviewing him)

Sat 1:00 PM
Ballroom D
Blog Much?

Sat 10:00 PM
Boardroom 1
Ouch! You Bit Me! A Zombie Survival Guide

Sun 10:00 AM
Ballroom C
The Artistry of Gaming

Sun 12:00 PM
Ballroom E
No Shirt, No Shoes, No Entry ‐ Business Etiquette

Sun 1:00 PM
Boardroom 1
If They Came in Saucers, Why Are We Smarter?

I have decided to start a new holiday: Epicurus’ Birthday. Henceforth, Epicurus’ Birthday will be celebrated on the third Monday of February in honor of the philosopher Epicurus, the ancient Greek philosopher and the founder of the school of philosophy called Epicureanism. His school was the first of the ancient Greek philosophical schools to admit women as a rule rather than an exception.

For Epicurus, the purpose of philosophy was to attain the happy, tranquil life, characterized by ataraxia—peace and freedom from fear—and aponia—the absence of pain—and by living a self-sufficient life surrounded by friends. He taught that pleasure and pain are the measures of what is good and evil; death is the end of both body and soul and should therefore not be feared; the gods do not reward or punish humans; the universe is infinite and eternal; and events in the world are ultimately based on the motions and interactions of atoms moving in empty space.

(From Epicurus, Wikipedia)

First, let me be clear: there are no secret (or not so secret) FEMA prison camps, and if there were secret prison camps, they would be operated by the military, not by FEMA. So let’s just move that conspiracy theory off to the side, because the whole “FEMA prison camp” thing is at least two different flavors of nonsense.

However, the suggestion that such a thing could never happen here ignores a very important fact: it has already happened here.

There are people alive today who remember when FDR issued an executive order to arrest and imprison tens of thousands of US citizens (and nearly as many legal immigrants) without trial or due process of any kind — and in 1944 the US Supreme Court declared this a valid exercise of Executive power under the authority granted him by the US Constitution. That didn’t happen in Stalinist Russia or Nazi Germany — that happened here (the USA).

So while stories about FEMA internment camps is a bunch of crackpot nonsense, I think it takes a special sort of hubris to think something like that could never happen here again.

Ten years ago, the idea of the US government spying on its citizens, intercepting their emails or killing them with drones was unthinkable. But now it’s business as usual, says John Kiriakou, a former CIA agent and torture whistleblower.

Kiriakou is now awaiting a summons to start a prison sentence. One of the first to confirm the existence of Washington’s waterboarding program, he was sentenced last week to two-and-a-half years in jail for revealing the name of an undercover agent. But even if he had another chance, he would have done the same thing again…

(from ‘US a police state, Obama consciously allows torture’ – CIA veteran John Kiriakou, RT.com)

Favorite comic of the past ten years: Thunderbolts. It was sometimes uneven, but they kept the title fresh and interesting for fifteen years, and that’s no mean feat. The cast changed from time to time, and a lot of characters came and went over the years, but for the most part the core team was consistent right up to the end. The development of those four characters was interesting and while not perfect, it was rarely disappointing. The comic also introduced me to some characters that I had never seen center stage before but which I really wound up liking, like Satanna and Moonstone. They wrapped up the series in December with a satisfying ending. Well done, Marvel.

Grudges are a waste of time. They accomplish nothing and only make you unhappy. So don’t hold grudges — especially against yourself.

Most anti-civil rights legislation is based on the argument, “I don’t like the way you live, even though it harms me not at all, and therefore it ought to be illegal.” Give that some thought before you advocate legislation to criminalize behaviour that does you no harm. Ignorance, prejudice, and irrational fear are a poor foundation for public policy.

Of course, it doesn’t help that some of the people exercising their civil rights are assholes.