Month: October 2004

Yes, folks, Dungeons and Dragons had its 30th Birthday yesterday.

I remember as a kid hearing all the weird news reports about how D&D was this horrible mind-altering thing, with kids dying and stuff. Yet my brothers played the game every week (or more often), and, well, they were nerds. They just sat around talking, rolling dice, and reading out of books to argue about combat minutiae.

I played my first game of D&D when I was eight years old. I remember it well. I was a magic-user. My brother Brian was… OK, so maybe I don’t remember it very well. My oldest brother, Jay, was the Dungeon Master.

And I died in the third room to a Green Slime. I cried, and never wanted to play D&D again. As a matter of fact, I don’t think I’ve played that particular game since then, though I’ve played a whole bunch of variants (I particularly remember many sessions of Champions), and enjoy the crap out of Neverwinter Nights, a video game that uses the D&D rules.

OK, maybe I have played it since then. Just not in the pristine pencil-and-paper format.

What about you? Was D&D your first introduction to role-playing games? Were you really into it, or hardly involved?

Ever try to start an exercise routine?

I am the proud owner of a weight bench, a kickboxing bag, 4 workout DVDs, a jumprope, and a 2 player “Dance Dance Revolution” system for PS2.. none of which ever gets used.

This month, though.. I’ve finally passed the four week mark on regular exercise.. doing the one sport I ever did well. Swimming.

I got a varsity letter in swimming back at QO before I had to give it up to do theatre. Swam for years before that too. Lately, having finally lost the 60 pounds I put on in college, I’ve been getting comments like “Dude, you’re too thin.. you look anorexic” – Which, granted, I used to get in high school too.

I finally stopped getting those comments in high school by returning to the pool 3 times a week – and now I’m trying it again. But man, its harder now. The demons of age have used ten years of stored powers to turn my once able swimming muscles into jelly after only 24 lengths of the pool.

For now, Barnsonians, wish me luck as I continue my quest to get back the body I used to have.. and if you have any advice, I’d welcome it.

— Deleted due to my own ignorance —

I went ahead and removed this. I asked a question without thinking all the way through it.

JB

A potential downside of Internet Phone: it turns out that 911 calls made from Internet Phones are treated with lower priority than 911 calls made from landline phones.

A St. Paul emergency call center said that because incoming calls from such services as Vonage don’t show address and caller it takes longer to respond. There’s a separate bank that fields these calls, and this bank doesn’t get attended to until the regular-phone 911 calls have been processed.

I get movies deaks every now and then from slickdeals. They have the pre-order for LOTR – Return Of The King Extended Edition for $20 – 15% off coupon 15FSOCT = $17. Select budget shipping to get free shipping.

It is scheduled for release in mid-december. Just in time for Santa… heh.

Just thought i would pass along the news…

JB

Back in March, there was a Howard Stern post here at barnson.org in which our gracious blog host, El Matt, wrote:

“I think Howard’s time is just about done. He’s going to join Limbaugh on the dung heap of radio history, and he doesn’t like it.”

Well, according to the news reports, Howard received $100M in salary and bonuses to begin broadcasting his show over Sirius satellite radio airwaves in 2006. Sirius felt this deal was justified because Howard still retains the #1 spot with males 18 to 49. So, Matt, it looks like not only has Howard survived your projection, but he’s still retaining his top ratings.

Because satellite radio is paid for by subscribers, the FCC can’t impose indecency limitations like they can over “traditional” airwaves. Howard stated that his goal is to reduce the value of all Clear Channel radio properties to $0.50.

My thoughts: I think his show is awful. But I’m glad he’s been fighting the FCC for all these years because worse than his programming is the government’s censor control. I’m equally glad that there’s a major media outlet that is free from FCC censorship.

Prediction #1: Given the general makeup of his audience, Howard’s show will not result in the 1 million new subscribers needed to recoup Sirius’s Stern signing cost.

Prediction #2: XM will not retaliate and will stay out of trying to land an equally big talent to match Sirius.

Hi guys, I am in need of web space, I have been using tripod as my free web space for my daughter, but it seems my needs have outgrown what tripod provides. So I was wondering if any of you knew of a good free web space provider, I need about 50 to 100 megs of space.

Thanks in advance.

Curt

I get a small mention in a review of Rampant Games’ new title, Void War. They mention “family” being involved in developing Void War, and the little brother by name. Woot!

Motorist has a new excuse for speeding. Yep, time to add “faulty cruise control” to my list of potential excuses next time a cop wants to give me a ticket!

And so it goes… I recieved a link from a buddy of mine that talks about the 9/11 attack on the pentagon. It has an interesting look at the attack and how there was little to no wreckage found of the airliner that crashed into the Pentagon. Hope you fins it as thought provoking as i did.

The Conspiracy Theory

JB