Applied Epistemology

Clinton already lost my vote in the California primary -- by continuing the retarded Bush practice of labelling every flat surface in sight with vapid Orwellian slogans she will lose my vote even if she manages to become the nominee. Didn't

The NYT obit correctly points out Gygax's great accomplishment: he brought fantasy to the people. Before 1973, fantasy was a genre of fiction. After D&D, it became an interactive medium. In this respect, D&D is to fantasy what photography is to painting.

Fun fact from the original D&D book I ("Men & Magic"): "the referee to pl

I knew that Stephen Colbert was a big D&D player, but only today did I discover this 2003 interview, in which Colbert shows his Tolkien IQ (and judgment about Faramir's characterization) to be mighty geektacular. (His paraphrase of Faramir's

So as I drove to my afternoon class at PCC today, I caught the last ten minutes of Larry Mantle's interview with Leonard Nimoy. I suddenly realized that Nimoy was doing the interview in KPCC's studio, that is, on the PCC campus, right by the faculty parking lot. Cue aggressive driving. I got into the lot a couple minutes after the interview ended, but (as usual at noon) couldn't find a space in the lot closest to KPCC's studio. I circled the lot once, in vain. As I headed to the southern half of the lot, who should I cut off but -- yes, Leonard Nimoy, in a Bill Belichek-style warm hoodie, walking to his car. Realizing with frustration that I couldn't stop in the middle of the driveway, and with no parking spaces in sight, I settle for rolling down my window and calling out: "Leonard Nimoy?"

On the back of a shirt in Illinois' orange:

"Our Juice will beat you, but he won't kill you."

The piece de resistance gift for Aidan this year was the LEGO Dwarves' Mine set. I must echo the consensus and praise this fine Lego set. The dwarf and goblin minifigs beg to be used as D&D minis.

The trailer for Iron Man looks good. Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr. were unconventional choices for a comic adaptation, but they seem to have added a humorous slant which is perfect for the character. The Scotch glass on the missile testing range is especially nice.

Verbatim excerpt from a student paper:

For instance, when the September 11 attacks occurred during 2001, and most people started blaming the Iraqi people and a dislike towards them was established, I was taught in my household not to blame all the Iraqi people for a mistake that one person committed. However, most people including some of my friends and relatives till this day are against Iraqi people because of what one person by the name of Saddam Hussein did. [...] In this situation they were committing a fallacy called hasty generalization.

Iris: "I want Slinky to be next to me while I am sleeping because I am afraid of the night."

Me: "But Daddy can sleep next to you and protect you."

Iris: "No, I want Slinky. Slinky can protect me."

Sorry to post so infrequently. I've been busy -- on top of the usual holiday business -- with writing a quiz for O'Brien's Pub Quiz (delivered last week; it was very well received) and preparing to teach a course this Spring I've never taught before (on Asian religions [!]). In the course of catching-up on the wisdom of my ancestors, I found this gem from Taoist master Yufang Bizhui: