Chaotek Thoughts

China bans any mention of Tiananmen Square, shutting down access to journalists and a huge swath of the Internet on the anniversary of the massacre.

I think that corporations and governments are too concerned with offending China to stand up and do the right thing. Either they need Chinese products, consumers, investments, etc. there just seems to be too much catering to what amounts to an Evil Empire. Tyranny should always be opposed, and while those within China may not have the ability to do so, the rest of the world does and should.

I’ve noticed that I am a really bad backseat Game Master. While I don’t consider myself to be a rules-lawyer or a setting-lawyer, I do find myself providing answers when I am not the GM a lot. Worse yet, I may be fielding answers for unasked questions. I am a GM more than I am a player, however I think this means that I am GM-ing when I am a player as well. This is ironic, because I really look forward to being a player, then I seem to be screwing it up by backseat GM-ing.

So as for the advice, which I am going to try an use as well, is to allow the GM of the game to do their job. Try not to answer questions, until the GM has had an opportunity to do so. Only answer questions if the GM asks for your input. Even in a situation where you might know the rules or setting better, it’s not your game. Maybe the GM is making a ruling that is contrary to the canon setting or rules system, but it’s their game to do so. That’s what house rules are. Never argue about setting, consider each game’s setting to be an alternate universe from canon and things might be different. If the GM makes a system ruling that you disagree with, try to bring it up outside of the game. If the ruling might drastically impact the game, consider bringing up your alternate opinion immediately, but let it go quickly if the GM disagrees. However these immediate questions should rare if ever necessary.

Gaming is supposed to be fun. If having 1.5 GMs is fun for your group, then ignore my suggestions. If keeping your gaming knowledge to yourself is not fun for you, and being a backseat GM is not fun for others, then consider not being a player as that’s not what you seem to enjoy.

In Popular Mechanics there is an article debunking claims that UFOs are seen in released NASA Shuttle videos. The comments on the article are great, because there are so many comments that NASA and the US Government are trying to cover up obvious alien spaceships caught on tape. That makes a lot of sense, since you’re seeing the UFOs (actually ice and other space debris) on NASA’s video–if they were trying to hide something, why give out the proof?

Here’s the thing that the UFO true-believers don’t understand: real UFO’s would be awesome. These UFO believers who claim that the skeptics and scientists don’t want to believe are just wrong, I think that skeptics and scientists would be super excited to find alien life (even if it’s just bacteria). Sure, the government might be afraid of alien life becoming public. But if the government’s grand conspiracy were so powerful and omnipotent, why would they be stupid enough to release the “key evidence” over, and over, and over in NASA videos.

The people who really don’t want proof of alien life are the religious true-believers, as it would fly in the face of every doctrine that says that man is a special and unique creation. Virtually any real scientist or skeptic would be excited to find proof of extraterrestrial life. But also it would prove a basic rule of science–we’re not special. Life is a natural process, and finding life, not-of-Earth, would prove that.

Now I know why I like energy drinks so much:

Traces of cocaine ‘found in Red Bull’ in Hong Kong

I’ve found a few sites with good tips and tactics for Woodsball:

• Special Ops Paintball – Good articles and forums. Used to have an awesome flash video, but it’s not up there anymore (hopefully will return)
• Paintball-Tips-and-Tricks.com – Pretty good articles
• YouTube – Mostly crap videos of people’s markers or games. There are some gems, and some funny blooper-type videos

Additionally, there are many forums out there. Too many to post, so find one you like.

The Church of Scientology has been banned from editing on Wikipedia, or at least their known IPs are. The beauty and failure of Wikipedia, which I love, is that it is open for (almost) anyone to edit. However how do you stop people from posting graffiti on it, posting outsourced information, or removing unflattering information without some amount of peer review? I don’t know that you can. But I suspect that this will have longer reaching issues, as the Church of Scientology has a long history of suing those who write unflattering or inside information, which Wikipedia has a lot of. We’ll see what happens from here.

I was reading an article about a male advocacy student group that formed at the University of Chicago. What struck me was how hypocritical some of the opponents of the group were. For example, a woman who heads a group called “Women in Business” explained how she didn’t understand why there needed to be a male based business student group because there were 5-6 gender-neutral business student groups. Read that again, slowly (I’ll wait)… There are plenty of other commentators who oppose the formation of the group, but this comment was perhaps the most ironic seeing as how the speaker is the president of a gender-specific business student group. The article also notes that there are 9 female advocacy support groups, and this would be the first.

Sure, the president of “Men in Power” explained why a male-targeted group should be allowed, but why should he have to. It’s kind of like how its okay to form women-only gyms, banks, social clubs, etc; but it’s evil to do the same thing for men? Maybe I suffer from the male perspective, but I thought I understood that the goal these types of groups was equal rights…

Here’s an update of the list of the podcasts I have sync to my iPhone right now:

• Astronomy Cast – This is a great show for anyone interested in the universe around us. The cast is entertaining and does a great job at explaining very complex topics, such as dark matter and dark energy.
• Basics of the Game – Started out as a game introduction and review podcast. After GenCon 2008 the cast has mostly been interviews from GenCon. Hopefully will get back to reviews soon.
• BlizzCast – Being the most corporate podcast, it also has the highest production value for a non-video podcast. Good interviews and insider information.
• Fear the Boot – This is a great RPG advice and entertainment show. I’ve started from the beginning, so I’m back quite a ways but each episode is roughly half entertainment, then the second half is serious advice.
• Meanwhile… – A very interesting RPG podcast focusing on superhero roleplaying games. About half of the episodes are generic superhero genre information and advice, while the other half are backdoor marketing for independent games.
• Radio Free Hommlet – Focused D&D 4th Edition podcast, perhaps the best RPG podcast for specific game-system information I’ve heard. Good advice for the power-gamer.
• Secret Life of Girl Gamers – Interesting RPG podcast from the female perspective. Topics generally not found on other RPG podcasts. Might be defunct, but it’s still in my queue if it comes back.
• Skeptics Guide to the Universe & SGU 5×5 – A good podcast for skeptics. The podcast does a good job at not being cynical, rather they try to evaluate if fantastical news is valid or held to scientific standards.
• SModcast – Very funny podcast by Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier on random topics. The most entertaining podcast on this list.
• Totally Rad Show – A video podcast, reviewing games, movies, TV, and comics. Very entertaining.
• Wapcaplets – Very short (5-10 minute) gaming podcast. Irregular production schedule. Strong focus on miniature gaming and independent publisher RPGs.
• X-Play Gaming Update – A 5 minute video podcast, informing mostly about the latest video game news.

I don’t know why it is, but it seems like all small-town people hate the source of their existence. What I mean is that small town locals seem to be bitter or angry towards the people or things that without which the town would likely dry-up. An example is a tourist town, where the locals complain about the tourists in front of tourists. … or a college town where the locals seem to hate the college students. … or a factory town where everyone complains about the primary employer. … or the suburb which complains about the city where all of the suburban-ites work. … or a military base town where the locals complain about the soldiers stationed there.

Now this isn’t to say that this is a universal sentiment, as those in the service and retail industries tend to be very polite and professional as their occupations require as much. However it’s the locals generally caught outside of work, who seem to be exceptionally bitter towards the source of income for the town.

I just don’t notice this same effect in larger cities. In fact quite the opposite, large cities seem to take more pride in their local attractions. For example local sports teams, even when they are quite bad, enjoy a great deal of local support. Major businesses are more catered to, as are destination locations like theme parks. Sure, there is always going to be a person who doesn’t like the local major employer or attraction, however it doesn’t come across to me as a majority opinion. When you compare large cities with small towns, you would expect the ratio of vocal ungrateful people to grateful people to be roughly the same, but I don’t get the same impression as an outsider in large cities like I do in small towns.