Denver Zoo 2011 Free Days

Ok, this is not science fiction related, but I am posting it anyways because I like animals.

Denver Zoo 2011 Free Zoo Days

January 8 (Saturday)
January 24 (Monday)
February 6 (Sunday)
February 19 (Saturday)
October 12 (Wednesday)
October 20 (Thursday)
November 6 (Sunday)
November 12 (Saturday)

Craig Ferguson Show Doctor Who dance opening

The unaired dance opening from the Craig Ferguson Show's Doctor Who (Matt Smith) night---which was "leaked" onto the internet.

And I have to say that "It is totally AWESOME!"

But then again, I am a nerd, ain't I?

Letter from Hogwhurrrts

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When the dust bunnies move

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Facebook Games

One of the comments I occasionally get is that I play too many games on Facebook. Some of my business and writing friends think that I should be doing more networking on Facebook; others believe that I should be doing more writing; my occult friends believe that I should be doing more ritual work if I am not going to actually do any writing; my professors don't know how much time I spend on Facebook (hehe), therefore they have no opinion of my activity there. And my wife believes that I should spend my gametime cleaning the house instead.

I am not sure how I found myself on Facebook. I had tried MySpace in the past, and a few other social networking platforms. None of which I spent any time on...I have a programmed aversion to tooting my own horn. Honestly, if it wasn't for the fact that I like keeping up with friends on Facebook and playing the games, I probably would spend less than an hour there per year.

I started my game playing routine there with Zynga Zoo game...I was an avid player until they recently introduced "feeding"...it has became just another "click and collect" game. At the moment, the three I am playing the most are MafiaWars, Vampire Wars and Cafe World. FarmVille I drift in and out on...it is not a high priority for me (I do like my virtual dog).

Now, I will admit that I do some networking on Facebook (besides friending other occult-oriented writers and fellow occultists)...I have gaming friends. Yes, that is right; I work harder at networking with other Facebook gamers than business-related networking. Sad, but true.

So if you like seeing what I am up to and getting the occasional update about my work, but hate my game updates, just remember---I am a silly person who is ok with advertising how many games I am playing, but hates to impose my own article links on you. (Heck, I post more links to other people's articles than my own.) My game time (which happens whether I am on Facebook or not) allows me to think that I am not just another spammy advertiser.

Why I moderate my blogs

All my blogs start off being moderated because I loathe commericals...and cat haters...and large egos...and whoever else decides to upset me.

Cuteness vs number of legs

Ahh, now that you put it into "science", I understand why the spider must die.

see more Funny Graphs

Underground Gamer is back up

The Underground Gamer private torrent tracker site is back up after being down for several days. Somebody had decided to pose as a member of a Brazilian Anti-Piracy agency, and sent an email to their hosting service to get them shut down, claiming that Underground Gamer was violating copyright laws and engaging in piracy.

Yes, every torrent that Underground Gamer lists is under copyright. Yes, technically every member of the community is a pirate.

But (this is a big "but") Underground Gamer is only sharing the torrent file information, and (this is a big "and") specializes in electronic computer games  and gaming manuals that are out of print and production. In other words, the stuff that no publisher or company is supporting. Like the old FASA Star Trek and Doctor Who RPG game manuals (which is what I was looking for when I stumbled across the site).

As a result of this unpleasantness, Underground Gamer is no longer going to have open signups. One bad apple (a former member of the site) spoiled it for everyone. I hope that they like paying outrageous prices for out-of-support material on Ebay.

My reaction to the Beast Below and to Victory of the Daleks

I am running a little behind with my commentary to the new Doctor Who espisodes, so I am going to do a two-for-one special today.

I liked the espisode The Beast Below. I found the Smilies to be particularly disturbing. I also liked how Amy Pond had to save the day; bottom line, she really understands the Doctor. It was also nice to see her notice something that the Doctor missed, which reveals that for all the sensory poweress that the Doctor displayed in The Eleventh Hour, the Doctor still does not understand human nature...or for that matter, even alien nature as well as his companions do on occasion. I loved the final shot of the espisode.

My feelings towards Victory of the Daleks are less warm. Despite the iconic nature of the setting and characters, I think that espisode was rather lack-luster. Obviously, there is going to be an espisode down the line that drives how important this espisode is...but I can sum up the entire espisode in three sentences.

Spoiler alert!!!---sort of.

Do not read the next section unless you want to know all you need to know about the espisode.

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Doctor Who and the Daleks meet Winston Churchill. The Daleks fool both the Doctor and Churchill. The Daleks get a new paint job.

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Ok, maybe the three sentences are not a major spoiler. But you get the point...the espisode is just a set-up for something coming down the line.

Wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that Amy Pond (and probably the entire human race) do not remember the planets in the sky.

Doctor Who RPG

When you're done with that, be sure to check out Timelord: Adventures Through Time and Space, another Doctor Who RPG that's now available for free. (You can also find a fan site here for the game.)And be sure to check out the other links I've come across previously.
FASA - Doctor Who RPG - Sourcebook for Field AgentsFASA - Doctor Who RPG - Players ManualFASA - Doctor Who RPG - Game Operations ManualFASA - Doctor Who RPG - Character SheetFASA 9101 Doctor Who RPG - The Dalek Problem - A SymposiumFASA 9101 Doctor Who RPG - The DaleksFASA 9201 Doctor Who RPG - The Iytean MenaceFASA 9203 Doctor Who RPG - CountdownFASA 9206 Doctor Who RPG - City of GoldEdit: Added a couple of modules that just got sent to me.

Banned my favorite torrent client

This is going to be a whine session, so someone better bring some crackers and cheese.

Earlier, this month one of the private torrent trackers that I get stuff from banned the use of uTorrent 2 on their tracker. (Basically, it favors other people using uTorrent 2; therefore it was unfair to those who used other clients.) In fact, every torrent client I like is on the banned list.

Now, I realize that no matter how you dice it, sharing torrents is stealing, unless you are sharing your own material. I have mixed feeling about the torrent sites. The reason I fluent the torrent sites is that I am hunting for out-of-print books, and I do not currently have a DVR (my VCR setup is pretty bad because I am using a digitual converter box and do not have cable). Basically, I can only tape what I am currently watching; therefore I would have to pick between House and Chuck. And we all know that the books I am after will never be reprinted (there is no market for them---there are only about a dozen of us interested in them).

Nevertheless, I know that I am doing wrong by downloading torrents. On the same grounds, DVRs, VCRs, and photocopy machines are also instruments of evil.

I did briefly try kTorrent: just long enourgh to realize that it was not really user-friendly (how the heck do you get it to download a torrent to an external hard-drive?). I do have one torrent client on my computer that I can use, but it it not great if you need to restart seeds after restarting your computer (bittornado). And I have a lot of files to seed.

I have came to the conclusion that this torrent site is out to annoy me. Heck, one of the clients they suggest, you have to compile yourself. Hmmm...my computer programming days are long past; I prefer my programs to come in prepackaged form.

Anyway, that is my complaint of the day---I can no longer use my favorite torrent client.

Now, give me that cheese and crackers.

Doctor Who: End of Time back to back espisodes

Well, last night I finally got around to watching both parts of the Doctor Who Christmas/New Year special: The End of Time. Back to back, that is. I had watched the second part of The End of Time in January, but was not impressed as much by the second part as I was by the first part.

I will admit that I was wrong. Both parts are equally good. I just failed to take in account the fact that the first part ended on such a high note.

Quite simply, I loved the entire world, every living person in it, turning into the Master (played ably by John Simms). On some level, I found that the second espisode lacking because it did not start on that high note. Watching the espisodes back to back eliminated that big letdown.

My advice to anyone watching The End of Time: watch the espisodes back to back.

(I would also like to point out from a fandom viewpoint, The End of Time opens up a lot of possibilities for fan created fiction. Some of the possibilities I plan on exploring myself in the coming months.)