http://toosigma.com/archive far from normal Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:24:50 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en As a resident of Colorado, I have a lot of research to do regarding the various amendments and referendums that will appear on November's ballot. I've found a couple sites that purport to give a "fair and unbiased" suggestion on how to vote, but I don't really believe there ... http://toosigma.com/archive/2008-10-20/colorado-ballot-initiatives-2008/ This post was prompted by this article at Marginal Revolution, which was in turn prompted by a recent court case denying ID "scientific status" and access to science classrooms. The article presents the hypothetical situation - if you find a watch in the forest, do you assume that it was the ... http://toosigma.com/archive/2008-09-12/why-intelligent-design-is-not-science/ After a holiday weekend of excess, I've decided that it's definitely time to get back in shape and lose some weight. Since my last few attempts to gain momentum in weight-loss have failed, I've decided to start making my efforts more public and to (hopefully) improve my accountability. ... http://toosigma.com/archive/2008-05-27/a-time-to-lose/ My primary Windows machine, which had happily been running Windows 2000 for nearly 5 years, finally gave up the ghost about two weeks ago. While sad at the loss, I had been contemplating an upgrade for some time, so I broke down and bought the new hardware. Given ... http://toosigma.com/archive/2008-04-12/grr-vista-sucks/ The Chatty DM just posted an excellent article that sums up a lot of what I've been trying (mostly unsuccessfully) to express about D&D 4th Edition. http://toosigma.com/archive/2008-04-06/the-feel-and-design-of-4e/ This is a response to Phil's Global Warming post (also posted as a reply on his site): First, there is no "correct" amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere - the concentration has varied dramatically throughout history, sometimes being many times the current value (such as during the Mesozoic Era). Using ... http://toosigma.com/archive/2008-04-02/response-global-warming/ This post is a response to JD Wiker on Why 4E Doesn't Feel Like D&D. The first point is that trying to judge a half-seen preview as representative of the entire game is a potential problem. It's entirely possible that the impression he's gotten is based only on the limited ... http://toosigma.com/archive/2008-03-29/a-response-why-4e-doesnt-feel-like-dd/ Some may have noticed that my posts have picked up in the past week or so. I'm currently striving to improve my writing through forced practice. Namely, I'm trying to do the following:Write for at least one hour every dayPost the results of your writing at least once ... http://toosigma.com/archive/2008-03-27/a-commitment-to-quantity/ D&D Fourth Edition is making some definite steps towards refining its focus as a game. Those changes have sent ripples throughout the gaming community, creating a wide variety of conflicting opinions. The ultimate result of this conflict will be a division of the D&D player base, with players ... http://toosigma.com/archive/2008-03-27/divided-player-base/ I often joke to my gaming group that I'm always the Game Master, and every game where I am not inevitably self-destructs in three sessions or less. For proof, I'm listing all the campaigns I've ever played in: Cutting Teeth - I'd just gotten the Basic D&D Boxed Set (red ... http://toosigma.com/archive/2008-03-26/the-curse-of-the-game-master/