Khan the Murderer and Khan the Ecologist

A thought came to me in recent days. I was reflecting on Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan when Khan takes Chekov and Captain Terrell into the Botany Bay to show them his pet Ceti eels, which can be trained, apparently, to climb in people's ears and exercise mind control over its victims. Khan probes inside the eels gills to find baby eels with a metal prong, then mutters, "Not all at once."

What does this mean and why is he concerned how quickly the momma eel is breeding?

Happy Birthday H.P. Lovecraft

Though part of me wants to say, "Thanks for bringing civilization one step closer to madness and slavery from inter-dimensional demon-gods. Thanks for nothing."

Impassioned Soldier to His Senator on Health Care

The argument this soldier is making is that the Founders didn’t write anything about Health Care in the Constitution - unless you stretch the meaning of welfare. Therefore what the hell is Congress/Obama doing trying to force this on us (because having health care for you and your kids if you're out of work or are at a company that doesn't offer health insurance is SO AWFUL)?

On a sidenote, the Founders initially missed a couple other things. I'm not sure that because they don't say anything about having a fair shot at getting health care means it's this great evil. A couple of things that come to mind that the Founders missed: women/voting, blacks/not enjoying the whole slavery thing.

Although I disagree with the soldier's argument that the public doesn't want health care - I think most do - I think he is pretty well spoken. I'll respect his service in the military. It's a tough job that has a more direct link to our freedom than most jobs that people do. But if I were his Senator he'd be waiting a while on the apology he wants. As my step-father always said, "Wish in one hand and shit in the other. See which fills up first." And my step-father was a veteran (since the crowd in the video seems to think that being a soldier and having an opinion automatically makes your wisdom unquestionable).

My Difficulty with Dragonborn

Race in fantasy games drives personality and struggle toward certain preconceptions and archetypes. You don't have to stick to every racial stereotype, but some of them are almost impossible to shed (though I'm not necessarily saying that is a bad thing). Elves are old (and thus likely wiser). Halflings are small, therefore see much of the world through those eyes. Dwarves come up in a culture where you're not supposed to whine about hitting your thumb with a hammer. Tieflings struggle with their inherent "bad guy."

As a personal taste, I'm not a fan of the Dragonborn. When I stare at Dragonborn I have difficulty earnestly coming up with anything that's strong character-wise. Perhaps it's harder to see the race in terms of "human" emotion - or what they do for fun - since they are a step farther removed from humanoid than Elves and Halflings. I don't know.

Perhaps the text pushes too far toward honor and fighting, which are fine things if you are a WWII battleship but really doesn't help with the things I find more interesting in an RPG like personality, interaction, and a degree of personal struggle. Sure the combat is just as important and fun, but it is pointless without a lot of the personality and background that makes a character feel like a vivid person. To exaggerate the point, why should the group care about a character if the most interesting thing about him is that he has an 18 Con and Str?

Anyway, don't take this as a Keithian stance that Dragonborn suck or a knock on anyone who digs 'em. This is more just a thought that's been kicking around in my head with that race. I'm sure others will have an interesting thought or two related to why it is cool or why you agree with certain things I've posted.


Caption:

Here we have Vraff. I draw a blank about what this guy does when he isn't snarling and wielding a sword that looks like it weighs about 85 lbs. Contrast with Tylana the Arcanist (right). I don't draw a blank from her. Her dress leads me to believe she has traveled the realm a bit and embraced various styles. She has a bit of the smart girl vibe but she's even prettier so I imagine she never really had to push herself in the study department if she could take the path of least resistance and be a Cha-based caster. She obviously takes time to stay cleaned up, even if she is traveling in filthy caves. And the way she poses - I bet she draped her skirt and it's not the wind. I imagine she is good at entertaining herself with offbeat alchemical humor - after all, her alternative is to banter with the Dragonborn next to her, who doesn't strike me as too talkative.

Bill Clinton Comes Out of Retirement for One Last Epic Level Adventure

In an epic battle of social grace, former President Bill Clinton came out of retirement one last time to save the world when it was in dire crisis. Tales will tell that he walked alone into hostile territory undaunted by the unforgiving jagged mountains and toxic air of the Kingdom of North Korea, which some have coined the serpent's head of the Axis of Evil. But Clinton did not fear and knowing his chance of survival was small, he never considered turning back.

Clinton returned to the US homeland yesterday, victorious in securing the freedom of two American journalists (Laura Ling and Euna Lee) who had been held by the dark regime of Dictator Kim Jong Il (Warlord 17/Screenwriter 3). Ling and Lee were arrested and dungeoned for 140 days and sentenced to serve 12 years of hard labor mining the rare mithril known to exist in the inhospitable badlands of forsaken North Korea. It was only through the epic deeds of former President Clinton that they were freed. Only the gods know how many Korean bodies were laid to waste in Clinton's rampage.

Ling reflected on the tale of heroism: "We were taken to a location, and when we walked through the doors, we saw standing before us President Bill Clinton. We were shocked, but we knew instantly in our hearts that the nightmare of our lives was finally coming to an end."

Can You Eat Two Whole Packages of Ramen Noodles?

When I was a boy I’d make a double layer sandwich of cheese and cold meat and Dad would joke (and partially mean it) “oink, oink," apparently unaware a single sandwich wasn't enough to satisfy a hungry appetite!

Some years later I sang a song about taking a cookie out of a child’s hand - to a cousin in the family. The lyrics were alternates to a Toby Keith and Willie Nelson song that was popular at the time:

“I'm gonna take that cookie out of Sarah's hand
I'm gonna eat it all 'cause I'm a big man
Yeah, I’m gonna eat that whole damn cookie”

This was largely of an inside joke to myself about the amount of appetite it’d take to eat a whole 3 in. cookie.

Today a third installment of this trilogy played out in front of me when I was in the company lunch room. A coworker was heating up some water and opening two bags of ramen noodles. Surprised, another coworker said, “You must have a high metabolism.” Indeed, two packages of ramen noodles is an immense amount of food!

President Obama Receives Harsh Criticism for Tying Shoe Right Over Left

How absurd would it be if someone criticized President Obama for spending an hour or two on the "Beer Summit." Wouldn't it be cynical for someone to claim that the President is NEVER allowed to set aside a friggin' hour or two for something that isn't as dire as Iraq or the auto industry? And besides, the Beer Summit idea to address racism in a calm environment seems like a worthwhile couple of hours to me. But alas, the RNC Co-Chairman came to accept my challenge of absurdism:

SAN DIEGO, California (CNN) – Republican National Committee Co-Chairman Jan Larimer criticized President Obama Friday for his White House meeting with a professor and a police officer, saying the president needs to focus on more important issues.

"We are at war and Barack Obama is talking about beer in the White House," Larimer said at the RNC's Summer Meeting. "And it is wrong. It is not what our country is about."

Larimer was referring to Obama's "happy hour" at the White House a day earlier with Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates and Cambridge police officer James Crowley. Crowley arrested Gates at his home after responding to a call that someone was breaking into a house. The arrest sparked a national discussion on the issue of racial profiling, which was amplified when Obama weighed in on the matter.

Leading up to the meeting, there was much discussion in the media about what type of beer would be served.

Larimer, who represents Wyoming, offered the sharp critique of the president as she recounted to her fellow RNC members her feelings about watching the USS Nimitz deploy earlier that day.