World-Building Exercise: Cosmology of the Western Isles

This is a continuation of last week’s world-building exercise, which started as a discussion of how Hasbro could potentially market D&D with specific characters in the same way that it markets soldier-based toys via G.I. Joe.

Every fantasy realm needs a Cosmology.  To keep this one simple, I decided to use Roman mythology as my base, simplifying and abstracting as necessary.  What follows may seem ludicrously over-complicated, but in reality, it’s but a fraction of what the Romans’ true religion actually contained.  I’ve tried to cut this down without changing its essential nature—as I understand it—more than was absolutely necessary.

Triathlon Training Diary: 4/22 to 4/28

This was one of those weeks where I kept trying to get one more thing done, but I never quite got there.  Which isn’t to say that it was bad or anything like that, but it wasn’t the kind of great training week that I had last week.

Sunday Comics: Bronx Angel--Politics By Another Method (Page 29)

Bronx Angel: Politics By Another Method, page 29.
Click here to see the page at full size.

Wow.  There's an egregious typo on this page.

Friday Mad Science: They Call Me the Working Man

Before we start today, let me own up to the fact that I got Sally a subscription to the New York Times Weekend Edition, and it came with an all-access pass to their internet content.  So if it seems like all of these articles come out of the Times, well, that’s kind of what’s happened.  

What can I say?  I’ve been reading the Times a lot lately.

Friday Hair Metal: Under Pressure

What a show this must have been!

Sally said:

"This is what our puppy, Faith, would look like... if she was a bear."

World-Building Exercise: A Brief History of the Legion of the Red Lord

I posted something last week about how I thought Hasbro ought to market and monetize D&D in a way that was similar to what they’ve done with G.I. Joe.  I noted in passing that D&D has miniatures in much the same way that G.I. Joe has little green Army men, and that I thought that D&D could therefore have named character personalities for marketing in the same way that G.I. Joe has done in order to make some of the typical “green Army dude” archetypes more marketable as individual characters.

I’ve wanted to expand on that idea ever since, but time being what it is, I haven’t been able to until today.

The Surprising Red She-Hulk

I picked up a couple of issues of Red She-Hulk for my daughter Emma a couple of weeks ago, issues 63 & 64.  Emma is way into comics, but being a girl, she likes girl-power comics, and there aren't so many of those.

So I figured, why not try Red She-Hulk?

Red She-Hulk #63, from Marvel Comics.
Yes, that is a version of Machine Man in the car with her.

Who knew that it was gonna be terrific?  

I only got around the reading the issues myself this afternoon, and I gotta say that they were super-entertaining.  Smart and trippy and not at all what I expected.

Why is Red She-Hulk covered in poop?  Gentle readers,
there's only one way to find out.

Needless to say, Emma will be back for more.  And she'll be bringing me with her.  Ha!

Close Call

Dude turned right in front of me today, leaving me less than a foot of space between my front wheel and the hood of his car! Honestly, I can't believe I survived and didn't wind up as street pizza. Yesterday was close, but this was absurd.

It's twenty minutes later, and I'm still shaking. Think I need to say a little prayer tonight.

Triathlon Training Diary: 4/15 - 4/21

Last week was Week 1, the start of a new 4-week training cycle and the week after my first multi-sport race of the season.  I took it easy early in the week, but by Wednesday, it was business as usual  Actually, this past week turned out to be the heaviest training week of the year so far, at least in terms of the number of aerobic points I put in.

Sunday Comics: Bronx Angel--Politics By Another Method (Page 28)

Bronx Angel: Politics By Another Method, page 28

Winter Seasonal Sale

I'm trying to decide if the savings here is worth the social faux pas of buying beer out of season.