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21 of us played 12 games. (DaveB only played an unrecorded game so you won't see him in the ratings.) |
So last week I forgot to mention that the Harry White Man is back in Austin (from Athens, Texas, where he carried a badge)! And this week Tim returned for the first time in a while; now that classes are over, he hopes to be around more. And DaveB (whom I saw earlier in the day at a fun ex-SimTex lunch, with a bunch of folks I hadn't seen in about 6 years) stopped by. But surely the biggest surprise was Sea Biscuit's revelation of extreme life change... including quitting the UT CS PhD program and moving to San Francisco soon to attend culinary school to become a pastry chef. (I would have recommended joining a cadre of wily sous-chefs, but that's just me.)
The poker club which several RussCon folks enjoyed was shut down by the police who raided it with guns drawn and claimed (falsely, according to folks I know who've been to the club) that the club takes a cut of the action (and doesn't simply charge a fixed rate for attendance, which apparently makes the club legal). It is frustrating to see the government arresting people for consensual "crimes" that aren't hurting people (and apparently aren't even illegal in the first place; the club had a public website and tried to do the correct legal stuff, so why was it raided like some secret den of evil?)... Police Dept Hall of Shame. Who watches the watchmen?
The Texas Showdown on May 3 is a conglomeration of various progressive/liberal causes, at least some of which I suspect many folks are interested in, possibly including certain poker players who've recently suffered some unjust smackdown by the state... My current plan is to hook up with Whendy & perhaps Dan at the south gate entry to capitol at 1pm...
The Great Mailing List issue is still percolating since I've been very busy and will be swamped this weekend, but seriously we will be shifting over soon I expect, since PJ's set up a nifty password-protected archive system... stay tuned.
Tichu | 2 | ( Steve MarkH ) 1 ( Ben Dan ) -1 |
DasAmulett | 5 | RussW 4 MarkG 1 Matt 1 JP -2 Allen -4 |
Carcassonne | 3 | MarkY 2 Clayton 0 RussW -2 |
ZirkusFlohcati | 4 | Allen 3 MarkG 1 William -1 JP -3 |
PuertoRico | 5 | JonathanC 4 Harry 2 MarkY 0 Fina -2 Clayton -4 |
Amun-Re | 5 | Marty 4 MarkH 2 Ben 0 Dan -2 Steve -4 |
Guillotine | 4 | RussW 3 MarkY 0 RussD 0 Clayton -3 |
Exxtra | 4 | Ben 3 Whendy 1 Dan -1 Marty -3 |
Cosmic | 4 | Allen 2 JonathanC 2 MarkG -1 William -3 |
ZirkusFlohcati | 4 | Clayton 3 RussD 1 MarkY -1 RussW -3 |
PuertoRico | 4 | JP 3 Matt 1 Kiet -1 Justin -3 |
Bluff | 5 | MarkG 4 RussW 2 Whendy -1 William -1 JonathanC -4 |
I finally got to play Das Amulett which is pretty fun. The main drawback was it took a while for JP to explain the rules to the rest of us newbies, and gameplay was a little slow at time due to newbies agonizing in the frequent auctions. I suspect it will go quicker with players familiar with it, and I'm certainly game to try it some more. It has some neat mechanics, and fans of games like Cosmic or Magic might like how it has lots of special effects, in the form of spells which are bid upon and then (like some sort of inverted Big Cheese mechanic) have the auction price placed on the card and removed one per turn, and the spell lasts until the "chiclets" are all gone from the card. Plus it's got pretty components. :)
Our Most Assiduous Reader will recall that I burned out on Cosmic years ago, but it has a certain dedicated fanbase at RussCon. It amuses me that its adherents are so fervent in wanting to play it, since it often seems to degenerate into bitter acrimony, and this session was a good example as I heard several intense arguments break out. Heh.
Henry Purcell, Dido and Aeneas
Henry Purcell, The Fairy Queen
Henry Purcell, The Indian Queen
Henry Purcell, King Arthur
Henry Purcell, The Tempest
Henry Purcell, for no particular reason. Or maybe because I learned a couple weeks ago that the movie Gattaca has Esperanto in it, and I love its excellent soundtrack which is by Michael Nyman, who was strongly influenced by Purcell. Yeah, that's it!
Good news for bagpipe fans! Scots composer breaks new ground: Lindsay Davidson, a Scottish composer and piper, is writing a three-part opera based on the 1921 Tulsa race riots in which 300 blacks were murdered. And classical composer Sir Peter Maxwell Davies has been commissioned to write a chamber work featuring the Northumbrian bagpipes.
Linguistiblog has interesting news tidbits about language and linguistics. And for a nice example of how language is used to manipulate, see this discussion of news headlines at the most excellent This Modern World.
Climber amputates arm to free self after being pinned by a boulder for 5 days
Bumperactive.com gives you print-on-demand bumper stickers
Origami Underground shows that origami is not just for children
If I had an Inch for Every Penis-Enlargement Spam... Sad to say, I get way more penis spam than this guy.
The Official Ninja Webpage: Real Ultimate Power!
Ĝis,
Russ