Nov 1st

• RT @Laroquod This is amazing. Andrew Plotkin's text adventure Kickstarter project reached its $8000 goal in ONE DAY: http://j.mp/c4Fhhu #intfic
• What I built at TIGJam 3: A vision system for a stealth roguelike. http://bit.ly/cowrBG -- Click to give it focus, then arrows to move.
• The algorithm is basically CSG. Build a FOV out of triangles, then for each occluder, subtract the bits of triangle behind the occluder.
• The grey streaks are a bug arising from antialiasing. (If you enjoy grey streaks, try increasing the quality in the context menu.)

Nov 2nd

• In case you were wondering: yes, the bulldog puppy *did* eventually manage to stand up: http://bit.ly/1jOlo
• I'm not usually one to say you enjoy your hobby too much, but if your hobby causes rioting in the streets, please tone it the fuck down.
• The nascent Futilitris art scene: http://bit.ly/bv4rxp
• Somebody make me a shirt out of this: http://bit.ly/dbIT44
• Rock Band 3 Expert Pro Guitar run of Crazy Train: http://bit.ly/aZhoLY
• Impressive, but what about the people who comment that you should be learning real guitar instead? What will they do with their lives now?
• Details announced for Fender Squier RB3 MIDI controller: $279.99, March 2011. Cheaper than I expected, and a real bargain for a MIDI guitar.
• @Laroquod Hm. Stepping out myself, looks only as weird as expected. I imagine it'd be hard to repro for a screenshot, the map being random?

Nov 4th

• http://j.mp/dfUNDu "Each morning, I take a bead from the smaller jar and place it in the larger jar, telling myself not to waste this day."
• http://bit.ly/d6UFOQ -- Vestigial finger bones! They must've had fully articulated hands just like us, once.
• Harmonix's official Rock Band level design guidelines: http://bit.ly/9r2Ucy http://bit.ly/aCqSKD
• @Johnicholas I hadn't heard that, no. Looks interesting!
• http://bit.ly/cbeB0F -- "Kanye West is the Cassandra of our Troy"

Nov 5th

• http://j.mp/axiTyS How do I convey that I'm saying "Lamarckian evolution is real" in the same manner one might exclaim "MONSTERS ARE REAL"?
• Use night vision goggles to see the infrared dots Kinect projects to point-sample you: http://j.mp/b5lRK2 (I bet a Wiimote would work too.)
• http://bit.ly/bVqXcg -- "If one of the crabs wakes up, escapes and learns kung fu from a computer, we shouldn’t say we weren’t warned."
• The new Xbox 360 dashboard has cut XBL Indie game sales in half: http://bit.ly/aKTP4J
• id software in 1992: http://i.imgur.com/kbzQQ.jpg

Nov 6th

• http://j.mp/dosdLy -- "For the ninja on the go, an effective grappling hook at a price that won't offend your sensei or your sensibility."
• So they're rereleasing a rerelease, not even the originals? That's kind of gross, isn't it? http://j.mp/a7gJC0 Oh god is that the box? Sold.
• "With a Deus Ex, you know who the fans are and how to please them, but designing for a broader audience, I feel like I'm playing on Expert."
• @plushapo At TIGJam 3, Scott Anderson asked who was making "what you'd call a 'traditional platformer.'" Half the room raised their hands.
• How do you continue living your life after enlightenment? http://bit.ly/blBRd8
• Right after this, they busted out an a capella rendition of "Mister Sandman": http://bit.ly/d0jGa8
• (I would also have accepted Bobby McFerrin's "Mere Words." http://bit.ly/abmS56)

Nov 7th

• Is there a word, analogous to "fast," that means "accelerates quickly"? Some of you must listen to sports commentators sometimes, right?
• @mrasmus That's a good one! Probably needs some context, but that's what writing is for.
• http://j.mp/axe12r -- McDonalds hamburgers don't grow mold because they dehydrate too quickly, not their mystical alchemical properties? Oh.
• SNES soundtracks arranged for the Genesis sound chip: http://bit.ly/dfnvqd
• http://bit.ly/8ZFWeq -- This is not what a savant looks like. This is what a savant looks like: http://bit.ly/byBPrH

Nov 8th

• "Gaming and Reality in Modern Warfare." An Iraq war vet takes on the Call of Duty franchise: http://bit.ly/cpee2p
• "WWII guys trained on bull’s-eyes. We trained on moving targets, shaped like humans. There is no ratio-of-fire problem today."
• How to build an electric telegraph in the wilderness, using nothing modern except information: http://bit.ly/GyufF
• @jonbeilin No, was that a recent one?
• http://bit.ly/9Nm0U3 -- "Microsoft furious at $2,000 bounty for open source Kinect drivers"
• "Microsoft does not condone the modification of its products." Guess what, asshole: after the purchase, *it doesn't belong to you any more*.
• After EMI's imminent bankruptcy, their master tapes -- decades of cultural history -- are in danger of being destroyed: http://bit.ly/aNAtfE
• Over 2 years, a tumor took Tom Lubbock's speech and writing from him. His story, to the extent that it can even be told: http://j.mp/9vihxC
• Time lapse of dandelion transmorphing into nature's bubble wrap: http://bit.ly/c3IT6y

Nov 9th

• @PaperDino In that case, I don't condone it either. Sorry for calling you an asshole, faceless corporate drone!
• I've put probably 20 hours into Rock Band 3 Pro Keys and it actually makes me a little sick how useless it is for learning real keyboards.
• Playing keys comes in two schools: playing sheet music and improvising on chord progressions. Both involve knowing about scales and chords.
• RB3 teaches neither, but the learning curve for its ridiculous note lanes is just as steep as if it did. It just markets better this way.
• It is pretty fun, though! That's all that matters, right? *Gag*

Nov 10th

• http://bit.ly/dk864D -- "You were on your way home when you died."
• 22 photobombs by horses: http://bzfd.it/brFT1Z
• Microsoft Kinect and Autism: http://j.mp/9AdURs -- "Sometimes there's immense value in something that might seem ridiculous to many of us."
• A round of D&D combat is six seconds, right? So, thematically speaking, a full game of Castle Ravenloft must take about a minute. Speed run!
• Here's the trick: formally studying a creative field doesn't make it hard to come up with new ideas. It makes it easy to perceive old ones.
• The other trick: you learn the rules not in order to blindly follow them, but to break them in interesting ways rather than stupid ones.

Nov 11th

• MTV selling Harmonix: http://bit.ly/bov2jd
• Wonder if I could plug the keytar into my QY70 and actually hear what I'm playing in Rock Band. It'd be better feedback than the game audio.
• @xobs Salted or unsalted?
• Text CAPTCHA: "Of the numbers seventy six, 2, 50 or forty, which is the lowest?" WolframAlpha: "or"
• Does anyone have a story of Steve Jobs striking a deal with someone and *not* fucking them over? It'd be a nice change. http://bit.ly/dzeLHg
• Flash mob to riot: http://j.mp/b9oLXf "Everything in that hypothetical story has already happened -- not at the same time, but it happened."

Nov 12th

• Okay, so evidently that's what savants look like nowadays after all: http://bit.ly/9xneNW
• Wall-climbing goats: http://bit.ly/9mOso1
• Super Meat Boy PC has achievements rejected by Microsoft as too hard: http://bit.ly/9WJTWm -- 100%ing the game isn't hard enough, evidently!
• @drinkycode They go straight in Gauntlet!
• New TSA guidelines: http://j.mp/bcPLvC After seeing an "enhanced pat down" travelers are "more willing to go through the full body scanner."
• Lucky me, my New Vegas experience has had all of Obsidian's characteristic writing quality and none of Obsidian's characteristic crashiness.
• http://bit.ly/9EmHKY -- "Scientists at McMaster University have discovered how to make human blood from adult human skin."
• In San Diego for the next two weekends. Ping me if you want to make plans.

Nov 13th

• @mrasmus Just arrived. Presuming this event is now in the past?

Nov 14th

• PokerStars bot police visit suspected bot user's home to watch him play: http://bit.ly/91HxrU

Nov 15th

• @mrasmus At that point I'd probably just automate the whole goddamn thing, but I suspect that would be exactly what crosses the line.
• More shenanigans: http://bit.ly/aM2SvC -- TSA threatens to sue passenger who doesn't consent to enhanced patdowns.
• While getting his ticket refunded, "he was told told that he could not leave the airport until he submitted to the invasive screening."
• http://i.imgur.com/qouVw.gif -- This makes me want to make an Alien vs. Predator mod for Spy vs. Spy.
• http://j.mp/cMDKC8 "How can we make our airports more like Israel's, which deal with far greater terror threat with far less inconvenience?"
• How to succeed on Kickstarter: http://bit.ly/97YQWD "First, spend 15 years working hard on projects with no reward but community good-will."

Nov 16th

• Matthew Wegner's photos of me at TIGJam: http://bit.ly/8X7Vod http://bit.ly/bYLMo0 (This is way more photogenic than I remember being.)
• @robertashley I get the sense that to really appreciate Girl Talk, you have to be able to listen to it without thinking "I could do that."
• The new edition of Betrayal at House on the Hill fixes the Underground Lake glitch! Not sure how I feel about this.
• Back when Bizarre joined Activision, it was signing with *EA* that was signing your own death certificate. The times they are a-changin'.
• @PaperDino Why would you fix that! That is the very model of feature-not-bug.
• The mechanical elegance of the pop-can stay tab: http://bit.ly/cB07AV

Nov 17th

• @robertashley That's understandable then, given that Girl Talk is nothing but recognizable samples. How do you feel about mix tapes?
• @Johnicholas I'm using FlashDevelop and Flex, as described here: http://flashgamedojo.com/wiki/index.php?title=Installing_FlashDevelop
• RT @funnest TSA screening procedure is hereby renamed "gate rape". Pass it on.
• New biometric security tech watches your eyes following a moving object: http://bit.ly/d7Ktra
• The Designer's Notebook: http://j.mp/ao7pSJ -- "Joy is unmixed pleasure. Fun is more complicated. What kills joy? Almost anything, really."
• EVE Online's upcoming character creator: http://bit.ly/d3ywYK -- Nobody gets away with a collection-of-sliders face editor after this.

Nov 18th

• @jonbeilin It certainly beats the pants off of -- well, to be fair, I haven't looked at Poser's interface since the late 90s.
• Why wreck a blank canvas? http://bit.ly/cjBUkL
• @mrasmus Any gems you'd recommend? Normally I'd say I just need non-gaming podcasts, but my favorite gaming podcasts are mostly defunct now.
• How is it that Fallout has serious performance issues on my netbook? We're talking about A: a game from 1997 and B: a 1.6 ghz processor.
• Putting modern-day terrorism in perspective: http://bit.ly/9WVCJI
• I hate meeting people who have the same hobbies as me and are better than I am at all of them. Maybe that's why I have the beard.
• The chill-out music at Vertical Hold is driving me crazy. I feel like I should be getting a massage rather than climbing.
• So tell me about this "mansplaining" thing. I just enjoy explaining things because I'm a big geek. Am I part of the problem?

Nov 19th

• Cliff Temples of India: http://bit.ly/coH94t
• Briggs-Rauscher oscillating chemical reaction: http://bit.ly/sWh9Q
• Another chemical oscillator, looking like a color-cycled fractal: http://bit.ly/dfLGRd
• TSA agents hate enhanced patdowns: http://bit.ly/bG1C6f [fixed broken link]
• @westquote Fixed, thanks. Working link: http://bit.ly/bG1C6f
• I can stop posting stories about the TSA now, because Bruce Schneier already posted all of them: http://bit.ly/cCt0Zb
• @relsqui There's an important distinction: in KoL, optimal play means playing once a day. In EB, it means coming back every hour.
• @relsqui In the case of Echo Bazaar, the feature is that the players are thinking about your game all the time.
• @relsqui I'm sure it was intended as a way to sell players turns, but I *like* when a game doesn't allow me to play it all day every day.
• @relsqui You'd burn through all the content in a couple days. That, or realize it's just a grindfest and get sick of it.
• @relsqui IIRC you can buy turns after you hit your daily limit.
• @relsqui But they don't want you to get it over with! Games with ongoing revenue streams are optimized for profitability, not for enjoyment.
• @relsqui I'd prefer that too. You should write to the Echo Bazaar guys. Back when I played at least, they were very responsive.
• @relsqui After taking a week off of it, I realized that it was a terrible grindfest with actual content getting sparser and sparser.
• @relsqui This happens to me a lot with RPGs. I can be super into one while playing and realize it's dumb as soon as I step away.
• New Chrome extension adds the terrifying visage of Jimmy Wales to *every* web page: http://bit.ly/ahOOeC

Nov 20th

• National Geographic's Photography Contest entrants: http://bit.ly/daHPlW
• "The greatest science-fiction story ever written": http://bit.ly/9fA7ae
• Asperger's High: http://j.mp/aHrWPO -- "I cheated on you with Alex, and I'm pregnant." "Okay. Should I be upset?" "I think so?" "Okay."
• Chris sent me this foolproof business plan a little while ago: http://bit.ly/ahTytz [pdf link] -- any angel investors want to hit us up?
• Futilitris update: fixed a bug in which the piece in play stops moving if the player turns off the music: http://bit.ly/d9qBPg
• Coming soon: Newcomer, the "ultimate RPG for the Commodore 64." http://bit.ly/cFZ4TO -- "Twenty years in the making."

Nov 21st

• http://j.mp/aqC8Dt "For social game developers out there - let me help. You know that bad feeling you have in your stomach? That's guilt."
• You're thinking about it backwards: if you walk away from a bad game, *you* win. If you put in enough time to "beat" it, the game wins.
• Fallout (1997) microreview: UI: unforgivable. Combat mechanics: forgivable. Writing: good. Story construction/setting: astounding.

Nov 22nd

• Replace yourself with an inflatable doll and still come in 3rd place in Kinect Joy Ride: http://bit.ly/dBfW0t
• http://bit.ly/azA3in -- "Enemy soldiers require your presence, or they would not exist. Hostages will be hostages until you rescue them."
• @troygilbert Medical issues come to mind.
• An appropriately fascinating and maddening interview with Christian Bale: http://bit.ly/eGJTI9
• Celebrated vegan stops being vegan because being vegan turns out to be unhealthy; vegans threaten to murder her family: http://j.mp/drqLyp
• Breaking down the movement mechanics of the 2D Zeldas: http://bit.ly/4EAI23
• @PaperDino I suppose that in that case, whatever you walked towards wins. Unless you're a jerk, in which case nobody wins.
• @troygilbert Sorry! :) I'll let you know if I see another such analysis!
• Captcha: "trotters $43,595" -- which is expensive, as trotters go, but she's worth it: http://bit.ly/heIxaF
• Remember, it's not pronounced Nyarlath-otep; it's Nyarlat-hotep. Like Imhotep or Rahotep. Best not to find this out the hard way.
• Grandma's Superhero Therapy: http://bit.ly/de905i
• Back in the Bay Area. Bay Area plan-makers, start your engines!

Nov 23rd

• Listening to a Sandy Petersen interview on Yog Sothoth radio. Man, somebody I know: put together a Call of Cthulhu group so I can join it.
• "To skip all the clapping at the start: 1:05" Best YouTube comment ever. Until video posters learn how to edit, let the commenters do it.
• Enslaved's platforming is like ... imagine playing Guitar Hero, except you have as long as you want to hit each note.
• I don't ask challenge of games. I'm perfectly happy to accept "meaningful player interaction" instead. (Enslaved doesn't have that either.)

Nov 24th

• My Xbox 360 has stopped registering achievements entirely. I... should really take this as a much-needed intervention.
• http://bit.ly/cj5fY0 -- "You've heard of Too Big to Fail -- the foreclosure crisis is Too Big for Fraud."
• Podcast Excerpt: Sandy Petersen's top memorable moments GMing Call of Cthulhu: http://j.mp/eAvl2x (From Yog Radio #7: http://j.mp/iblw10)
• Cherish your new followers with locked twitstreams, folks. They're the only ones you can be sure aren't shilling for somebody.
• The H.P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast just finished their two-part analysis of The Colour Out of Space: http://j.mp/cTRz14 http://j.mp/eddvYq

Nov 25th

• Melting rock using focused sunshine: http://bit.ly/c3clDt
• Astronaut Douglas Wheelock's photos from the ISS: http://bit.ly/9Rth5g

Nov 26th

• What do you get if you put skiers and paragliders in a room together? http://bit.ly/cV0eZq
• TSA time again, I guess? UC Davis molecular biologist on backscatter safety report: "Hide your kids, hide your wife." http://j.mp/fWXMRH

Nov 27th

• Amazon is a great venue for making fun of overpriced audio accessories: http://j.mp/17AA6B
• Pretty stressed at the moment and need an excuse to get out of the house. Is anybody not busy tonight? Or in the next few days?
• Hidden debug mode discovered in in all AMD CPUs since the Athlon XP. To activate, set EDI to 0x9C5A203A. http://bit.ly/cNBpHF
• Robot uses science to make double pendulum stand up straight: http://bit.ly/f4Jdvt

Nov 28th

• Pidgin needs a way to mark chats as unread. Half the time when I wake up I've received half a page of links each from four different people.
• I look at the first and think "I'll respond to the others and come back to this." Then I think it again three times, then forget everything.
• Hours later, I'm like "I want to send a link to one or more of these people!" Then I remember I have backlogs to get through first.
• @mrasmus Me and tabs have a weird relationship. I'll switch to a tab, wonder why I opened it, and switch away expecting to remember later.
• @mrasmus (This goes on for days.)
• @mrasmus Basically, the issue with using tabs to solve the problem is that I'll forget that who I'm supposed to react to re a given link.
• Reconstructing a 3D scene using two Kinects: http://bit.ly/gSC16b

Nov 29th

• Stress update: significantly less stressed. Still, anybody free this evening?
• Derek Yu talking about Spelunky: http://bit.ly/i2NDsC Shot by the Indie Game Movie folks at TIGJam. (I'm in there for about half a second.)

Nov 30th

• RT @plushapo arcade game constraints of short (2.5 min optimally) death cycles were to help monetize - yet today that is festishized as "hardcore"

On Twitter: @mogwai_poet