pres_man

Troll race "class" progression

2009-11-11T17:19:27Z

1: 1d8, BA +0, Fort +2, Ref +0, Will +0, 1 feat, low-light, speed 30 ft, medium, +2 Str, +2 Dex, +2 Con, -4 Int, -2 Wis, -4 Cha, 4(2+int) skills [listen, spot]

2: 1d8+1d4, BA +0, Fort +2, Ref +0, Will +0, 1 feat, low-light, speed 30 ft, medium, +4 Str, +2 Dex, +2 Con, -4 Int, -2 Wis, -4 Cha, 5(2+int) skills

3: 2d8+1d4, BA +1, Fort +3, Ref +0, Will +0, 2 feats, low-light, darkvision, speed 30 ft, medium, +4 Str, +2 Dex, +4 Con, -4 Int, -2 Wis, -4 Cha, 6(2+int) skills

4: 2d8+2d4, BA +2, Fort +3, Ref +0, Will +0, 2 feats, low-light, darkvision, speed 30 ft, medium, powerful build, +6 Str, +2 Dex, +6 Con, -4 Int, -2 Wis, -4 Cha, 7(2+int) skills

5: 3d8+2d4, BA +3, Fort +3, Ref +1, Will +1, 2 feats, low-light, darkvision, speed 30 ft, medium, powerful build, +6 Str, +4 Dex, +6 Con, -4 Int, -2 Wis, -4 Cha, 8(2+int) skills, +2 natural armor

6: 3d8+3d4, BA +3, Fort +4, Ref +2, Will +2, 3 feats, low-light, darkvision, speed 30 ft, medium, powerful build, +8 Str, +4 Dex, +6 Con, -4 Int, -2 Wis, -4 Cha, 9(2+int) skills, +2 natural armor, 2 claws (1d4) and bite (1d4)

7: 4d8+3d4, BA +4, Fort +5, Ref +2, Will +2, 3 feats, low-light, darkvision, scent, speed 30 ft, medium, powerful build, +8 Str, +4 Dex, +8 Con, -4 Int, -2 Wis, -4 Cha, 10(2+int) skills, +2 natural armor, 2 claws (1d4) and bite (1d4)

8: 4d8+4d4, BA +5, Fort +5, Ref +2, Will +2, 3 feats, low-light, darkvision, scent, speed 30 ft, large, +10 Str, +4 Dex, +8 Con, -4 Int, -2 Wis, -4 Cha, 11(2+int) skills, +2 natural armor, 2 claws (1d6) and bite (1d6)

9: 5d8+4d4, BA +5, Fort +5, Ref +2, Will +2, 4 feats, low-light, darkvision, scent, speed 30 ft, large, +10 Str, +4 Dex, +10 Con, -4 Int, -2 Wis, -4 Cha, 12(2+int) skills, +5 natural armor, 2 claws (1d6) and bite (1d6)

10: 5d8+5d4, BA +5, Fort +5, Ref +2, Will +2, 4 feats, low-light, darkvision, scent, speed 30 ft, large, +12 Str, +4 Dex, +10 Con, -4 Int, -2 Wis, -4 Cha, 13(2+int) skills, +5 natural armor, 2 claws (1d6) and bite (1d6), Rend [damage 2d6 + 1½ times Str modifier]

11: 6d8+5d4, BA +6, Fort +6, Ref +3, Will +3, 4 feats, low-light, darkvision, scent, speed 30 ft, large, +12 Str, +4 Dex, +12 Con, -4 Int, -2 Wis, -4 Cha, 14(2+int) skills, +5 natural armor, 2 claws (1d6) and bite (1d6), Rend [damage 2d6 + 1½ times Str modifier], Regenerate 5

100 reasons why Kirk is Better than Picard

2009-11-05T12:36:23Z

From: http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=4329

1. When Data died, Picard had a funeral. When Spock died, Kirk reconstituted the body, forced it’s soul back in, and even got him laid along the way.

2. When Picard senses that Wesley is having emotional problems he sits down and talks with him about it. When Kirk sensed that Charlie X was having emotional problems he took him to the gym and threw him around on the mats until he got over it.

3. When Picard went back in time he brought back Data’s head. When Kirk went back in time he brought back a blonde.

4. Picard’s Enterprise was destroyed by a couple of Klingon chicks while he was stranded on a desert planet. Kirk’s Enterprise was destroyed when he blew up a crew of Klingons, stole their ship, and resurrected Spock from the dead.

5. Kirk has caused computers to self-destruct by out-thinking them on three separate occasions.

6. When Picard was in the Academy he got stabbed in the heart. When Kirk was in the Academy he beat the unbeatable Kobyoshi Maru scenario and bagged Carol Marcus in his spare time.

7. When Sisko met Picard he told him he hated him. When Sisko met Kirk he got his autograph.

8. Kirk does not play the flute.

9. Picard is from France.

10. When Picard has a problem he talks to Guinan about it. When Kirk has a problem he shoots it.

11. When Kirk screams it echoes across the entire planet.

12. When Kirk blew up the Enterprise, Starfleet built him another one and had it ready by the time he got home.

13. Kirk collects antique guns. Picard collects antique matrioshka nesting dolls.

14. Kirk chastises omni-powerful super beings for not being polite to women.

15. Kirk sword fights someone on a regular basis.

16. Kirk’s Enterprise did not have a day care.

17. Kirk once ordered Scotty to fire a photon torpedo on his position and then he dodged out of the way so it hit the alien he was fighting.

18. Kirk has a violently deadly disease in his blood but he doesn’t let it slow him down any.

19. When it’s time for shore leave Kirk goes rock climbing and drinks whiskey. Picard wears nut smashing banana hammock speedos and reads by the pool.

20. Picard’s name is known and respected throughout Klingon space. Kirk’s name is cursed and vilified.

21. The only Klingon serving on Kirk’s bridge would be a dead one.

22. Kirk jumps horses in his spare time. Picard owns a fish.

23. Kirk would never allow an “acting ensign” to lock out his command codes.

24. Picard quotes Shakespeare for fun. Kirk quotes Shakespeare to intimidate his enemies.

25. Kirk’s jump kick projects 650 pounds of blunt force.

26. Kirk once made a cannon that shot diamonds.

27. Kirk defies superior alien beings on an almost daily basis.

28. When the evil aliens use a stun ray on the crew, Kirk always stays conscious for a minimum of 15 seconds longer than everyone else.

29. Kirk is on a first name basis with every single admiral in Starfleet.

30. Kirk once said: “You’re the Captain’s woman till he says your not.”

31. When Sarek mind melded with Picard, Picard cried a lot. When Sarek mind melded with Kirk, Kirk decided to hijack the Enterprise and bring Spock back from the dead.

32. Kirk can shoulder roll at 127 miles per hour.

33. Picard’s engineer wears goofy wrap-around sunglasses. Kirk’s engineer wears a kilt and can drink you under the table.

34. If Picard’s engineer has a headache it’s because he wore his Visor for too long. If Kirk’s engineer has a headache it’s because he has a hangover.

35. Kirk looks good in sideburns. Really good.

36. Picard drinks tea. Kirk drinks Saurian Brandy straight from the bottle.

37. Kirk mocks Federation bureaucrats that he doesn’t like and then proves that their aids are Klingon spies, just to make the point.

38. Kirk once became an Indian god with the power to resurrect the dead.

39. Kirk can beat a Vulcan at chess.

40. Kirk’s love affairs extend not only across space but across time as well.

41. Kirk’s dress uniform does not actually look like a dress.

42. Kirk looks good in a ripped shirt, and he knows it.

43. Kirk repopulated the Earth’s once extinct humpbacked whale species.

44. When Picard wants the ship to go faster he calls down to engineering and asks to go faster. When Kirk wants the ship to go faster he sling-shots it around the sun.

45. When Klingons invaded Picard’s Enterprise he carefully neutralized them. When Klingons invaded Kirk’s Enterprise he had a massive sword fight with them.

46. Kirk has fought evil duplicates of himself on numerous occasions, always with screaming involved.

47. Kirk’s greatest nemesis was the genetically superior ruler of over a quarter of the Earth. Picard’s greatest nemesis likes to dress like him and occasionally cause inconvenience.

48. Kirk has punched out at least one member of over three thousand known alien races.

49. Kirk would never allow his first officer to get more tail than he does.

50. No matter what world Picard goes to, Kirk was there first and probably has an illegitimate child somewhere on the planet.

51. Everyone knows the phrase “Beam me up, Scotty!” The phrase, “Energize whenever you are ready, Mr. La Forge,” doesn’t exactly have the same notoriety.

52. Picard’s first officer is named after a bathroom code.

53. Kirk once yelled, “No blah-blah-blah! No blah-blah-blah!” and made it sound important.

54. Kirk’s hand phaser is sleek and sexy. Picard’s hand phaser looks like a Hoover dirt devil.

55. When Kirk wants to talk to the Enterprise he flips open his communicator dramatically. When Picard wants to talk to the Enterprise he has to tweak his own nipple.

56. Kirk’s youth was spent doing back breaking work on a farm in Iowa. Picard’s youth was spent squishing grapes with his toes in France.

57. Kirk fought the Greek god Apollo. And won.

58. The women on Picard’s ship wear long pants. On Kirk’s ship, miniskirts are mandatory.

59. Kirk’s middle name is Tiberius.

60. It runs in the family: Picard’s brother died trapped in a fire. Kirk’s brother died fighting swarms of alien invaders.

61. When Data hijacked the Enterprise, Picard was helpless to stop him. When Spock hijacked the Enterprise Kirk fought him to the death.

62. Kirk’s medical officer prescribes hard liquor as a cure all.

63. Kirk has heavy calluses on his right index finger from pressing the trigger on his phaser so many times.

64. When Kirk gets punched in the face he just wipes the blood off his lip and looks at it with a smirk.

65. Picard once wore formal Klingon robes for a Klingon ceremony. If Kirk ever wore Klingon robes it would be because he took them off a dead Klingon.

66. Kirk chops his own firewood.

67. Kirk once led a Mafia take over.

68. Kirk would have slept with Beverly Crusher by episode two.

69. In the episode “The Trouble With Tribbles” the tribbles bred at such a fast rate not because of instinct but because they were in the presence of Kirk.

70. When Deanna Troi talks about what she’s feeling, Picard listens carefully and thanks her for her input. Kirk would have called it “pillow talk.”

71. The emotional content level of Kirk’s speeches is an average of 782 times higher than the level of Picard’s speeches. If he’s talking about revolution, exploration or diversity, it is 1,089 times higher.

72. When Picard has an alien delegation on board he invites them to a quiet dinner. When Kirk has an alien delegation on board he gets plowed on Romulan Ale.

73. Kirk is familiar with 20th century slang.

74. The main computer on Kirk’s Enterprise once hit on him.

75. Kirk faced off against Wyatt Earp at the O.K. Corral and won.

76. Picard is a Frenchman with an English accent.

77. Kirk only requires thirty-two minutes of sleep a day.

78. Kirk eats multicolored nutrition squares because he’s too busy fighting stuff to eat a normal meal.

79. Kirk destroyed 672 uniform tunics during the Enterprise’s first five year mission.

80. 347 of those tunics were destroyed during combat with Klingons. The rest were destroyed by various women.

81. When Picard fought the Borg he got assimilated. When Kirk fought the Borg he blew up their planet.

82. When Kirk was sent to the prison camp on Rura Penthe he hadn’t bathed or changed his clothes in days and was wearing animal carcasses for warmth but Iman still threw herself at him the moment he arrived.

83. When Abraham Lincoln appeared floating in space in front of the Enterprise, Kirk didn’t even blink.

84. Kirk can break out of any jail cell that is located anywhere in time or space within one hour. Within one half hour if Spock is with him.

85. When Kirk disguised himself as a Romulan, he stole a cloaking device and used it to escape to Federation space. When Picard disguised himself as a Romulan he ate some soup and then got captured.

86. Denny Crane.

87. 87% of all Klingon opera is about the singer’s desire to kill Kirk.

88. The other 13% of all Klingon opera is about the singer’s desire to be killed by Kirk in glorious battle.

89. Kirk once taught an emotionless female android how to love. Then he broke up with her.

90. Kirk’s evil twin womanized and swilled brandy. Picard’s evil twin liked to have his scalp massaged by Ron Perlman.

91. Even though they haven’t existed for hundreds of years, Kirk can still sort of drive a stick shift.

92. Kirk never dressed in green tights and pretended to be Robin Hood, and if he had, someone would have paid for it.

93. Even though Kirk often pauses between words, no one ever dares interrupt him.

94. Kirk went to the center of the universe, met god and wasn’t impressed.

95. When Kirk says “boldly go,” he means it.

96. KHHAAAAANNNNNN!!!!!!!

97. Kirk blatantly disobeys one out of every five Starfleet orders just to remind them who’s really minding the store.

98. Starfleet estimates that the average Klingon has a 36% chance of being killed by Kirk at some point in their lifetime, regardless of their age, profession, location or social status.

99. Kirk once kicked a Klingon into the molten core of an exploding planet.

100. Style: Kirk did it first, he did it better and he did it wearing gold velour and Beatle-boots with a space girl on each arm.

pres_man @ 2009-10-29T18:50:00

2009-10-29T23:52:58Z

You are Red/Blue!
Take The Magic Dual Colour Test - Beta today!
Created with Rum and Monkey's Personality Test Generator.

You are both rational and emotional. You value creation and discovery, and feel strongly about what I create. At best, you're innovative and intuitive. At worst, you're scattered and unpredictable.

Beholder Beauty

2009-10-24T03:03:35Z

Bouncy eyeball ... ball:

Base paint:

Final paint job:

pres_man @ 2009-10-15T15:05:00

2009-10-15T20:07:15Z

Watching Troll 2 on Hulu, and I have to say, I've seen better acting in a Elementary Christmas pagent.

EDIT: Saved from watching it more by a visitor.

Zero Amigos

2009-10-02T19:42:10Z

Looks like the showing of three amigos will be delayed until next week.

Versus!

2009-09-30T00:43:08Z

Clancy Brown versus Ron Perlman!

Fight!

Discussions about 4e and gaming restarts in general.

2009-09-24T21:23:53Z

Here are a couple of posts I made on a thread discussing 4e and the idea of gaming companies "restarting" their brands after a time.

Response to someone talking about how WotC is advertising an abomination and calling it D&D.

Still, what I am getting from you is that you don't view the current edition as really "D&D". That it doesn't have the same cows (though some of those weren't even heifers in earlier editions) or feel or whatever.

Ok, but now let's take a step back from the deeply entrenched position of the old school gamers and look at it from an outsiders point of view. This outsider has no idea about spelljammer or darksun or ravenloft or even the forgotten realms. They may vaguely recognize Drizzt, though not know his name, just from seeing the covers of books in the sci-fi/fantasy sections. So many of those cows and true to the past settings and whatever are totally unknown to them. So what is D&D to them? What are their basic ideas about it from what little exposure they have picked up in their life?

1. D&D is a game for geeks.
2. You use dice to play it.
3. You often use little miniature people to play it.
4. It is based on fantasy ideas.
5. You have elves, dwarves, humans, and halflings in it.
6. You have fighters, wizards, thieves/rogues, and a healer in it.
7. You have hps.
8. You have a lot of options on how to build your character.

Does 4e have these things? If yes, then to an outsider, someone who may just now be getting into gaming, that is what they are expecting. That is D&D to them. Not FR, not Darksun, not half-orc barbarians, not gnome illusions, not Gygaxian naturalism, not G-N-S theory. People get so wrapped up in what they have experienced and liked that they forget that very first day they played, before they even knew the rules. They weren't worried about minis or if the realms had been blown up or anything. They just wanted to play a fantasy game where they were a hero, and that is what D&D was for them. 4e, just like every other edition, provides that experience, and that is why it is still D&D.

Response to a question about how counterintuitive it is that gaming companies restart their products.

But is it really counterintuitive? Let's consider. Any game system that produces new material on even a semi-regular basis is going to increase in complexity. Complexity of mechanics and/or fluff. Now, if you start off on the ground floor, you are building on knowledge you already know. You can deal with it on a step by step basis, in a natural fashion. In that case, the increased complexity isn't a huge burden for the person who has been invested in it from the beginning.

But what about the newcomer. With each new product that comes out, that is another thing they have to deal with to catch up. It may be that they are only able to consumer products at the rate at which new ones are produced. This means they will never make any headway, they will always be far behind of the cutting edge of the system.

Now that can be pretty frustrating to the gamer, especially if they want to play in organized play. But consider the position of a new developer. For this new employee (and you will always have some turn over, even without "evil" reasons, marriage, death, retirement, change of career, progression of career), not only do they have to make new product, but they have to make it legitimate in light of all of those previous products. They have to consume all of those, let's say they do in a timely fashion (they are already fairly knowledge about the system to begin with), they are now hamstringed by the mechanics and the fluff that preceded them. That can be stifling to a designer. Anyone that has ever run their own homebrewed world probably has experienced this with just their own material.

So what is the answer then, you have a very complex system. Much of the complexity is now a burden to the new material and to bringing in new players. Old players are decreasing (death, change of system, grown out of gaming). Changing the dynamics of the system and the setting seems a very intuitive response to me. Start over from scratch, wipe the slate clean. Learn from the things that worked, drop the things that just added complexity but did not improve the experience. Of course this is going to be frustrating to those that have invested so much of their resources (time, money, sweat, etc) into the old systems, now they have to start over from scratch. But it is a natural way for companies to stay alive.

What about backwards compatibility? Again, that is just continuing the burden of complexity, the more backwards compatible the system is, the more added complexity from day one must be added in. Read some of the discussions about the Alpha and Beta testing for PF. There were people saying that they should abandon the idea of backwards compatibility because it was too restrictive, it didn't allow PF to make the changes that needed to be done (drop magic down and boost melee up) and that it remains as "broken" as 3.5.

The really only other choice is stagnation. To reach a point where the mechanics and fluff do not increase anymore and the company just maintains its products (doing reprints every so often). I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing for a big company, look at Monopoly, how much has it changed in the last 30 years? Still everyone pretty much has a copy of it, even if you never play it. But for small companies, they have to continue to make product. Thus they continue increase their complexity. And thus at some point it is untenable to maintain anything remotely coherent. And thus the new system.

A Cloth Stronger than Kevlar, Made by a Million Spiders

2009-09-24T15:43:14Z

A Cloth Stronger than Kevlar, Made by a Million Spiders

This must be why drow are so kick butt, they all are wearing kevlarish clothing.

Hitler hates 4th edition D&D

2009-09-24T15:32:17Z

Finally got around to knocking out some stats for a middle sized cat

2009-09-07T16:22:18Z

Lynx
Size/Type: Small Animal
Hit Dice: 1d8
Initiative: +4
Speed: 30 ft.
Armor Class: 16 (+1 size, +4 Dex, +1 Natural), touch 15, flat-footed 12
Base Attack/Grapple: +0/-3
Attack: Bite +5 melee (1d4+1)
Full Attack: Bite +5 melee (1d4+1) and 2 claws +0 melee (1d2)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks:
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, scent
Saves: Fort +3, Ref +6, Will +1
Abilities: Str 12, Dex 19, Con 13, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6
Skills: Balance +12, Climb +8, Hide +8*, Jump +12, Listen +5, Move Silently +8, Spot +5
Feats: Alertness, Weapon Finesse B
Environment: Temperate forest
Organization: Solitary or pair
Challenge Rating: ½
Advancement: 2 HD (Small)
Level Adjustment: --

The statistics presented here describe a fairly small cat of about 20 to 50 pounds in weight. They also can be used for other small wild cats such as servals, caracals, fishing cats, and clouded leopards.

Skills
Lynxes have a +8 racial bonus on Jump checks and a +4 racial bonus on Climb, Hide, and Move Silently checks. Lynxes have a +8 racial bonus on Balance checks. They use their Dexterity modifier instead of their Strength modifier for Climb and Jump checks. *In areas of tall grass or heavy undergrowth, the Hide bonus rises to +8.

pres_man @ 2009-09-07T08:45:00

2009-09-07T13:45:26Z

Make a list of Deities

2009-08-31T21:19:23Z

If you were going to make your own list of deities for a roleplaying game, what kind of deities would you have? Four that jump out at me are:

Deity of Nature, Domains: air, animal, earth, fire, plant, sun, water, scalykind, weather
Deity of Death, Domains: Death, Destruction, Law, War, Repose
Deity of Chance, Domains: Chaos, Luck, Travel, Trickery, Charm, Glory, Liberation
Deity of Knowledge, Domains: Knowledge, Magic, Mind, Artifice, Creation, Nobility, Rune

I see nature and knowledge both being true neutral, death being lawful neutral, and chance being chaotic neutral. I see chance as being female (Lady Luck), death and nature being asexual (angel of death), knowledge feels male to me (but that could be my sexism).

So what other deities if you were working from scratch occur to you?

List of Open Game Domains:
1 Air Domain
2 Animal Domain
3 Chaos Domain
4 Death Domain
5 Destruction Domain
6 Earth Domain
7 Evil Domain
8 Fire Domain
9 Good Domain
10 Healing Domain
11 Knowledge Domain
12 Law Domain
13 Luck Domain
14 Magic Domain
15 Plant Domain
16 Protection Domain
17 Strength Domain
18 Sun Domain
19 Travel Domain
20 Trickery Domain
21 War Domain
22 Water Domain
23 Mind Domain
24 Artifice Domain
25 Charm Domain
26 Community Domain
27 Creation Domain
28 Darkness Domain
29 Glory Domain
30 Liberation Domain
31 Madness Domain
32 Nobility Domain
33 Repose Domain
34 Rune Domain
35 Scalykind Domain
36 Weather Domain

Massachusetts Senate seat thoughts take 2

2009-08-27T19:41:30Z

Wouldn't it be too late to change the law if the seat has already come open (due to the death of Sen. Kennedy)? Would a new/old law not take effect for seats that come open after the law takes effect? Isn't there some kind of "grandfather" clause or something? Could people who were challenging it take it up to Massachusetts' supreme court? The US supreme court? I mean we saw what happened with Franken and that was with an actual vote.

Got to love Mass.

2009-08-26T18:38:30Z

Gov. would OK law change for Kennedy successor

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said Wednesday he would support changing state law to allow him to appoint an interim successor to Sen. Edward Kennedy's seat while a special election is held.

Unlike most states, a successor to a vacant U.S. Senate seat in Massachusetts is chosen by special election, not appointed by the governor.

Wow, that is pretty generous of him. He would support that would he?

The succession law was changed in 2004, when Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., became his party's presidential nominee and Republican Mitt Romney was the state's governor. Before the change, the governor would have appointed a replacement to serve until the next general election.

That would have created the opportunity for Romney to install a fellow Republican in office, a move that Democrats who control the state legislature sought to prevent.

So they changed the law to screw over Romney if Kerry had won, and now that it is biting them in the rear, they want to change it back. Classy.

Highs and Lows

2009-08-25T20:23:48Z

Good idea: Get to the room with the projector and make sure you can hook up your laptop to it.

Bad idea: When the top of the cart it is in doesn't open up easily, don't decide it must be stuck and pull a bit harder. Thereby pulling the screws out of the wood and ruining the cart.

Good idea: Either get someone to show you how to open it or look for that latch that is holding it close.

How iconic is your cleric?

2009-08-25T19:20:45Z

How iconic do you consider the idea of a heavily armored cleric for roleplaying games and/or fantasy is? Something almost unheard of? A common occurance? What do you think?

Maybe I should be calling the stove and not my wife about dinner.

2009-08-24T21:17:14Z

It ain't poltergeists: Cell phone activates oven

How did this happen? Melnikov and his Brooklyn apartment building's skeptical super eventually figured it out through trial and error: The tenant's ringing cell phone somehow turned on his nearby Maytag oven when it rang. If you're skeptical, check out the video of this in action at the New York Times website and see for yourself.

Evolutionists may need to find a new whipping dog, still have wisdom teeth

2009-08-24T21:05:31Z

The Appendix: Useful and in Fact Promising

The vermiform appendix is a slimy dead-end sac that hangs between the small and large intestines. No less than Charles Darwin first suggested that the appendix was a vestigial organ from an ancestor that ate leaves, theorizing that it was the evolutionary remains of a larger structure, called a cecum, which once was used by now-extinct predecessors for digesting food.

Darwin thought you stored corn there? Who knew? ;)

However, Parker and his colleagues recently suggested that the appendix still served as a vital safehouse where good bacteria could lie in wait until they were needed to repopulate the gut after a nasty case of diarrhea. Past studies had also found the appendix can help make, direct and train white blood cells.

"Those changes left our immune systems with too little work and too much time their hands - a recipe for trouble," he said. "Darwin had no way of knowing that the function of the appendix could be rendered obsolete by cultural changes that included widespread use of sewer systems and clean drinking water."

pres_man @ 2009-08-21T09:50:00

2009-08-21T14:55:05Z

Study: Games are depressing...or are they?

The average gamer is 35, overweight, and more likely to be depressed, says a new study conducted by researchers at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Under the bus?

2009-08-19T14:36:19Z

MSNBC is suggesting that Dems should toss the Unions under the bus, because the unions are saying that the president needs to have a public option, and if they don't put that in, then the unions are going to revolt. Now MSNBC is describing unions as existing only to get dues, and use better benefits to recruit people.

Yes We Couatl!

2009-08-14T16:51:51Z

Since I'm bored as I get ready to start work again, I decide it is time to make a couatl.

A long time back, when I first started DMing, in one game a giant snake attacked the party's horses. The bard's player, seeing the snake swallow a dead horse whole said his character got violently sick. In memory of that session, the player later gave me a giant snake from reaper.

I've had it for more than 5 years and haven't gotten around to doing anything with it. I felt that it deserved some special treatment, and so I've used cheap $1 Store snakes in its place for most of the situations when I needed a large snake. Finally I decide that I should make it into a couatl. So yesterday I went a bought some metal angel wings:

Picking the second pair in the first row, I glued them to the snake. I then used modeling clay to smooth out the attachment and also to help cover up a gap that was where the top of the head had attached. I then cooked it to harden the clay.

Now I need to prime it and do some painting.

So when I saw the Prez's Town Hall, I saw what appeared to be a Lovefest

2009-08-13T18:04:43Z

Is this why?

Montana stop could be rowdy

Just days after a mild crowd President Obama at his town hall meeting in New Hampshire, the White House is employing a ...

... different process to distribute tickets for the Friday’s event in Montana.

Usually, the White House has ticket-seekers sign up on its Web site and then randomly selects attendees from that pool of requests. But tickets for the Montana event are being handed out on a first-come, first-served basis at two locations in the conservative Bozeman, Mont., area.

The switch raises the possibility that Obama will get a rowdier crowd than he saw in New Hampshire on Tuesday, one more similar to those that have greeted members of Congress.

Single Payer System, It's My Bag Baby

2009-08-13T16:56:54Z

I could have sworn his middle name wasn't "Danger". =D

A bit scary.

2009-08-10T20:40:57Z

Health Care's Six Money-Wasting Problems

Too Many Tests

Doctors ordering tests or procedures not based on need but concern over liability or increasing their income is the biggest waste of health care dollars, costing the system at least $210 billion a year, according to the report. The problem is called "defensive medicine."

"Sometimes the motivation is to avoid malpractice suits, or to make more money because they are compensated more for doing more," said Dr. Arthur Garson, provost of the University of Virginia and former dean of its medical school. "Many are also convinced that doing more tests is the right thing to do."

"But any money that is spent on a patient that doesn't improve the outcome is a waste," said Garson.

Some conservatives have suggested that capping malpractice awards would help solve the problem.

President Obama doesn't agree; instead, his reform proposal encourages doctors to practice "evidence-based" guidelines as a way to scale back on unnecessary tests.

I certainly agree, that unneeded tests shouldn't be performed. But why do tests cost so much? Do they have to cost that much? Also what if Dr. Dumb decides not to do a test because Obama is going to get him, and you die? While I think extra tests are often wasteful, I also think more knowledge is better than less. If you don't know the problem is, do more tests if it is me.

Going Back to the Hospital

Bailey suggested that processes such as computerized order entry for drugs and use of electronic health records (EHR) could help ensure that patients get the correct dosage of medications in hospitals. Discharging patients too soon is a "huge waste of money," said Swanson.

"This happens a lot with elderly patients who are discharged prematurely because of insurance, bed unavailability or ageism," she said.

Many times, patients also don't follow instructions for care after discharge. "So complications arise and they are readmitted in a week," Swanson said.

PricewaterhouseCoopers estimates the cost of preventable hospital readmissions at $25 billion annually.

Among the reform plans, one proposal being considered is for Medicare to potentially penalize hospitals who readmit patients within 30 days of discharge.

So they are going to penalize a hospital for readmitting patients. So if a patient needs to be readmitted is it more likely or less likely that they will actually be readmitted under these proposed rules? Or will the hospital say, "Nah, your fine, take these pills and go home."