As a reminder --

As a reminder --

Alfred Pennyworth: ... And in their desperation, they turned to a man they didn't fully understand.

Bruce Wayne: Criminals aren't complicated, Alfred. Just have to figure out what he's after.

Alfred Pennyworth: With respect Master Wayne, perhaps this is a man that you don't fully understand, either. A long time ago, I was in Burma. My friends and I were working for the local government. They were trying to buy the loyalty of tribal leaders by bribing them with precious stones. But their caravans were being raided in a forest north of Rangoon by a bandit. So, we went looking for the stones. But in six months, we never met anybody who traded with him. One day, I saw a child playing with a ruby the size of a tangerine. The bandit had been throwing them away.

Bruce Wayne: So why steal them?

Alfred Pennyworth: Well, because he thought it was good sport. Because some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.

I've been focusing on resistance, but let me be perfectly clear on something:

I've been focusing on resistance, but let me be perfectly clear on something:
-- Sexual threats are never OK.
-- Sexual harassment is never OK.
-- Sexual assault is never OK.

If you disagree on that, do go away and never return.

Thinking about commercial space ship math ala the Solar Clippers books.

Thinking about commercial space ship math ala the Solar Clippers books. This is tangentially related to my pbta hack Solar Wind & Sale, but -- and let me be clear -- I'm not really interested in RPGs: The spreadsheets.

I am interested in playing around with numbers.

Here are three scenarios as a family space ship develops a niche. Throughout each, I am assuming there are 8 staterooms, useable by crew or passengers. Further, I am assuming a mortgage on 50 million dollars at 8% interest, approx 30,000 per month. 20% of the profit is the Owner's Share, 10% is the Captain's Share. Each officer receives a double share, crewmembers depending upon their ratings.

Scenario 1: Cargo Hauler
Officers: 3, each receiving a double share of profits
Crew: 5, each receiving a quarter share of profits.

As a standard cargo hauler, you need to buy and sell cargo. You are doing arbitrage, betting the price will be higher at point B than at point A. You have to risk your capital investment when you by cargo.

Some assumptions:
(1) One trip per month
(2) Costs includes: Cargo, Mortgage, operating insurance, engineering supplies, crew salaries, crew supplies. This totals approx 120k cost per trip.
(3) Cargo can be sold at 130k.
(4) With only quarter share crew, the officers are doing most of the work. You don't want to leave quarter share unsupervised, so the officers take watch with them. The Engineer and Cargo Chief both have to take watches.

This give a net profit of 10,000, and 7.25 shares. The Owner's receive 20%, the Captain 10%. 7,000 is distributed to officers and crew, and share size is ~966. The quarter share crew members receive ~250 plus salary. The officers receive a little under 2,000 plus wages. The Captain receives a grand extra.

Scenario 2: Cargo Transit and Some Pax.
After a while, our crew starts finding a niche. They hire a steward to cook, and realize they can use the spare cabins for passengers.

Officers: 4, each receiving a double share of profits
Crew: 5, each receiving a half share of profits.

Some assumptions:
(1) The ship has mostly moved to transportion cargo jobs, but is still buying and selling some. This has two effects: (a) The cost per cargo is reduce, (b) They can go on 2 trips per month instead of 1.

(2) They start leasing out the spare cabin, bringing in money from passengers. They also need to pay for supplies for pax and insurance.

(3) The crew all become half shares, making the lives of the officers easier and increasing salaries and shares. Crew salary increases from ~250 a person to ~500 per month. The officers now each have only 3 jobs.

(4) As a result, the overall cost per trip goes down to 60,000, instead of 120k. This is half the cost!

(5) The total income goes down to 75k, down from 130k.

This gives a net profit of 15,000. The Captain takes 1,500, the Owner's take 2,000 and 10,500 is distributed the the crew. There are now 10.5 shares: 8 for the now 4 officers, plus 2.5 for the 5 crew. That works out to share sizes of 1,000 -- about the same as before.

But, this is tremendously better:
(1) The crew are now making 500 + wages, and the wages are bigger.
(2) The officers are making roughly the same per trip.
(3) The Captain receives an extra 1,500 per trip!
(4) There are twice as many trips per month! Every is receiving the bonus twice a month!

Scenario 3: Quick Luxury Ship
Trying an experiment, our crew converts more of the space to passengers. The Steward and XO fall for each other, freeing up a space.

Officers: 4, each receiving a double share of profits
Crew: 6, each receiving a full share of profits.

Some assumptions:
(1) The crew get reassigned to three per room, and all the crew pass the full share test. This takes a lot of pressure off the officers. The officers now only have two jobs each.

(2) Due to the number of pax, they hire a full share crew steward in addition to the ship's steward.

(3) A bunch of other costs go up: crew supplies, insurance (all them pax), supplies for the passengers. The total average per trip goes up to 75,000 instead of 60,000. This is a 25% increase!

(4) The four staterooms can each be leased out for 20k per trip: this is mostly honeymooners and business tavel. There's about another 20k made in cargo.

(5) The business is now somewhat diversified, as they can buy and sell cargo when necessary, transport packages that need to go fast, and transport passengers. I've shown them with just pax and jobs, without buying and selling any cargo.

This results in a profit per trip of 25,000! The number of shares has increase to 14 (8 for the 4 officers, 6 for the full share crew). That's 1,250 profit per share.

The crew each get a full share: 1,250 + wages! The profit per crew member doubled. The profit per officer increases from 2,000 to 2,500 + wages. The Captain makes an additional 2,500!

Moral of the story: Train and empower your employees, and the economics of the Solar Clipper universe will pay dividends.

Last night, we were at the Supreme Court.

Last night, we were at the Supreme Court.

I'm told Pelosi, Sanders, and Booker were there. In the crowd of 2,000 I never saw them. The mics didn't work, so there was no way to know if they were talking.

The chanting was good, including old favorites such as:
-- No Hate No Fear. Refugees Are Welcome Here
-- We Are the popular vote
-- Leader: Show me what Democracy looks like? Crowd: This is what democracy looks like!
-- Candlelight vigil

Some ones to new to me:
-- We can't stand him, impeach President Bannon
-- Leader: Whose rights? Crowd: Our Rights! (I'm worried about this one, as it focuses attention on the people there. But, it plays into something else later on.)

There was a bunch of press. Folks with big TV cameras, folks liveblogging. Folks interviewing the crowd while leading chants.

After a while, DC police decided to open up the street between the Supreme Court and the Capitol. Motorcycle cops came down, forcing everyone off the streets and onto the curbs.

As soon as they passed, some idiot white guy whose never been tased and is having too much fun (hello), was one of several people leading into the streets with the refrain:
-- Leader: Whose Streets? Crowd: OUR STREETS

Luckily, this ended well -- the DC police backed off -- but taunting cops isn't a good idea.

Before this, the crowd was dying down. We were about to leave, as things were coming to an end. Then the cops show up, and everything is turned back up to eleven. I'm not sure if that was the intention.

While we were there, Acting AG Sally Q. Yates stood up to Trump. By the time we got home, she was fired by the usurper.

I'm not sure this did anything. It was fun, but that's hardly the point.

My Senators's offices are currently closed -- a bit too early, which makes sense --

My Senators's offices are currently closed -- a bit too early, which makes sense --

Leader Pelosi is having a rally tonight. I can't tell if the public is allowed anywhere near it:
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/trump-immigration-democrats-rally-234335

Any thoughts?
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/trump-immigration-democrats-rally-234335

Double Share, redux

Double Share, redux

I was disappointed with the Solar Wind series starting with Double Share. Here's another way it could have gone:

Tony Lower-Basch, Josh Mannon. Do you like this? Should I expand it?

Family Share ... a fan fic by William Nichols

At the Academy, I realized three fundamentals truths at the exact same time.
Number one: Pip would be my best friend for life.
Number two: I am poorer every moment Bev is not by my side.
Number three: The five years federated freight wanted for tuition has a buy-out clause.

After graduation, Pip went back with his family onboard the renamed ship the Prodigal Son. Bev surprised me, as instead of taking over one of her families ships, she came with me to Federated Freight. I'd be in Engineering, and she'd be third mate onboard the sister ship to the Lois McKendrick, the Angelica Schuyler.

We saw Pip every few months when our ships were in port together, but mainly Bev and I used the lessons we'd learned onboard the Lois McKendrick to make triple our wages through trading. We encouraged the crew to form a coop, and then joined in. Before long, our combined income was bigger than the Captain's!

Bev taught me to love action-adventure films, and I showed her the joy of the opera. We had plenty of entertainment on the Angelica, and went to local Opera when we were in port. Pip loved parties, and the three of us became a fixture on the 08 deck. Officer's tests are done on station, and I sat for every one I could; after a year, I was rated in Engineering, Deck, Cargo, and Steward.

After two year, we had enough wealth. Together, Bev and I bought out my contract. Bev contacted her mother, who set us up as third mate and Cargo Officer on one of their smaller family ships, the Peggy.

The Peggy was a tractor, carrying three cargo boxes behind. Within the next year, I'd sat for the third mate test and Bev was XO. We lined up our travels with Pip's whenever feasible, making sure we saw him every few weeks instead of every few months.

He was the best man at our wedding, with Captain Gigone performing. It was a big spacer wedding, and I finally felt like an adult. I hadn't realized it, but I still had the groundhog belief that you're not really an adult until you get married. Shortly after, Bev was asked to take the Captain's exam, which she passed with flying colors. For a while, I was her chief Engineer and XO.

A big corporate ship like the Lois McKendrick weighs in at 40,000t and could cost a billion credits or more, an astronomical sum we'd could never afford. But technological advance meant additional miniaturization, and smaller crew requirements with commensurate lower costs. With our savings and wedding presents, we were able to set up a small corporation and buy out a 9,500 ton ship. We christened her the Agamemnon, and brought Pip in as a partial owner and as our cargo master.

The three of us each owned 10% of the company, with 20% owned by Pip's family, 20% by Bev's, and 30% by Federated Freight. They believed in us, and had the money to spare on such a venture. Pip's family let him have their votes by proxy, as did Bev's. FF kept theirs, but in actually supported us at every juncture.

We found the Agamemnon about to be decommissioned; we got her at scrap prices. She could only carry cargo internally, but had more staterooms than the Angelica. Bev and I shared the captain's Cabin, letting Pip take the XO stateroom. We had three spare, and stocked crew and officer boarding with the same high quality bedding. If we were going to live onboard this ship the rest of our lives, we wanted comfort.

The three of us, and five crew. Bev was our Captain, of course. She also took care of ship handling. Pip and I were both ranked as XO, and it seemed only fair that he take it. He was also our cargo officer, and navigator. That left me as second mate, Chief Engineer, and in charge of ship's systems.

Any ship over 5,000 tons regulations call for at least one full time person in engineering and cargo, with a rated officer to supervise. Pretty frequently, this meant a single officer in charge of those divisions, but our variety of ratings meant we could keep a higher share.

We needed three bridge watch standers, an engineer and a cargo crew. Technically, with less than ten crew we didn't need anyone in Steward division, but I pushed for it so we could have great cooking, and an obvious morale officer.

At first, we tried out a new quarter share - he was a disaster. We needed someone who could manage the kitchen on their own. After that, we tried a half share, and a full share. While George and Lakon fit in and did their part, I really wanted someone who could take on a larger role and responsibility. We hired an officer, fresh out of the academy, name of Susan Holbach. Susan was a lot like me, not from a spacer family. She and Pip hit it off from day one. After three months, Susan moved into the XO cabin with Pip. Susan was a skilled ship handler, and took that duty off Bev's shoulders.

Pip continued to prove himself a master trader, we made money hand over fist. I got every crew member to sit for a test every quarter, always pushing them skip a rank. Bev had the brilliant idea of teamining with the crew's coop; they operated independently, but had access to ship's boxes not otherwise in use, and we got 10% of their profits. This gave us a reason to align the ship to help maximize the coop profits.

As the crew took more tests, we happily promoted them. Eventually, the three Deck crew were able to take over navigation, systems, and ship handling. Our Engineer achieved his spec one in environmental systems, making my life easier.

Susan's cooking was inspired thanks to her father running a breakfast restaurant at the other end of the sector. She'd trained as a steward at the academy, and had the brilliant idea of leasing out the spare rooms. We hired her an assistant, who ran parties and kept up morale. After a year, Susan and Pip got married and she bought into ownership of the company. She had to buy extra to get 10% from Federated Freight, a testament to the work we'd done. I'm pretty sure she used wedding presents from her and Pip's family to pay for it, but I never asked.

Most passenger ships are slow, taking months to get from place to place. At less than 10,000t, the Agamemnon was a fast packet, able to transition from system to system quicker. We got a lot of corporate and honeymoon passengers. Bev put her Captain's share into furniture and decorations for the ship, and the four of us put the full Owner's share into the mortgage.

That extra money helped us buy out our partners in ten years, rather than the ten we were planning, Finally, our home was really ours.

He will not divide us.

He will not divide us.

Originally shared by Leslie Lawson

This sums up how I'm feeling.
http://johnpavlovitz.com/2017/01/28/dear-world-from-america/

Dear friends

Dear friends,

Have you made the world safer for your neighbors this week?

In the last week or so I've:
-- Participated in the women's march
-- Sent postcards to my house rep and senor senator
-- Attended a county board meeting, to make sure my local governance is performing with kindness and grace.
-- Gently corrected mistaken beliefs about the women's march
-- Scheduled a postcard party for a few weeks from now, to help our friends petition our government.

This first week has been a terrible one. I won't rehash the terrors coming out of the White House here. I've also been dealing with some work bullshit taking up more of my spare time than expected.

Next week, I'm planning to:
-- Email the DNC regarding the process of choosing electors and voting. This has been on my calendar to do this week since the primary.
-- Petition the county board to make us safer for immigrants, and to make sure they hear a voice pro our parks and libraries.

Love to you and yours! He will not divide us!

Had no idea they partnered with PP. That's fantastic.

Had no idea they partnered with PP. That's fantastic.

Jule Ann Wakeman, who assuredly knows all this.

Originally shared by Rabid Feminist

Eat more cookies

If 40,000 people in three states had voted differently, the result would have been reversed.

If 40,000 people in three states had voted differently, the result would have been reversed.

Because I am not smart, I did not know those exact numbers.

Edit: As Derrick Sanders rightly points out, more than 90,000 people in those states were disfranchised.

Let's see what happens with this, shall we?

Originally shared by Jim White (T.W.Wombat)

Let's see what happens with this, shall we?

EASY ACTION: if you want to support Senator Warren's request to audit President Trump's finances for conflicts of interest, the Government Accountability Office says that the most effective way to be sure your support counts is to email two administrators, Katherine Siggerud and Timothy Minnelli -- and a third email address through which they're tracking people who are urging support for the audit.
you can send ONE email addressed to:
siggerudk@gao.gov, minnellit@gao.gov, congrel@gao.gov
Subject line: Re: Audit for President Trump's financial concerns
Dear Ms. Siggerud and Mr. Minnelli,
I’m writing in support of Senator Elizabeth Warren's request for an audit of President Trump's finances, to prohibit conflicts of interest that would prevent him from carrying out the responsibilities of the office without corrupt influence.
Sincerely,
-

And please copy-paste this post to share. If you just click "share", then only the overlap of my friends and yours can see it. This took about 30 seconds to do. An audit is essential immediately.

Note: Seems Legit - http://www.snopes.com/feds-tracking-support-audit-donald-trump/
http://www.snopes.com/feds-tracking-support-audit-donald-trump/

Oh, and here's my current public and official view here: There is a set of violence that is always OK to commit...

Oh, and here's my current public and official view here: There is a set of violence that is always OK to commit violence against known nazis.

That includes, but is not necessarily limited to: punching. Sucker punching. Punching to reduce their impact.

That does NOT include: sexual violence.

Just to be clear.

Remember folks: There were more people at this inaguration than any in history.

Remember folks: There were more people at this inaguration than any in history.

Not really.

Originally shared by James Olchak

https://twitter.com/AleciaWarrenXO/status/822949172454141952

Here's CNN doing its job.

Here's CNN doing its job.

They don't go over the big lie, so here it is:
Big Lie: The Press cannot be trusted.
Truth: The President and his cronies cannot be trusted. Must not be trusted. CNN and other news outlets practice responsible journalism, and so are sometimes wrong, but tend towards truth.


http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/21/politics/sean-spicer-fact-check/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/21/politics/sean-spicer-fact-check/index.html

Melissa Riggio lead our little party.

Melissa Riggio lead our little party. From Ballston to federal SW, to the Air & Space to the Mall. To a March along ... maybe constitution?

The last picture includes the white house. There are still tens of thousands of women between me and it. This doesn't include the wall of signs, by which time I was emotionally broken and unable to take any more pictures.

This was the cleanest, nicest protest I've ever been a part of. Everyone behaved, everyone brought provisions, and were willing to give those provisions out to others.

I was at Obama 1; this felt like more people. Maybe that's just because we didn't have the Mall, but I am skeptical. The entire parade route was filled with women, from the Capital to the White House. The city was shut down as effectively as it was for the inauguration.

I met women from NYC and OKC; women in strollers, and women on crutches. Ambassadors and students.

I was glad to be allowed to be a part.
https://goo.gl/photos/e2B7JXCuqgVBGnCh6

There were so many people at the DC march that:

There were so many people at the DC march that:
-- It spilled to streets from one end of town to another
-- Metro had lines hundreds long
-- There rumors it'd be canceled, because people were lined up all the way to the whitehouse.
-- Ten times the busses as the inaguration
-- It felt more crowded than the first Obama inaguration

Also, Michael Moore can seriously mansplain.

Preserving this here for later amendment when DT says it was the largest turnout ever, with the coldest weather and...

Preserving this here for later amendment when DT says it was the largest turnout ever, with the coldest weather and the most snow.

Obama 1 was ~20 F, snow, and well over a million people.

Originally shared by Tim Johnson

Dang.
http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/1/20/14332462/photos-crowd-trump-inauguration-vs-obama

PSA: Running in the cold is dangerous.

PSA: Running in the cold is dangerous.

Yesterday, I thought it was warm enough to do a 5k outside, so I went for a run. I didn't get a very good time (36:30 or so), and was disappointed.

... Until I got home and realized my vision was pixilated. My blood flow was fucked somehow. Immediately, I sat on the sofa with my legs up and my head down. I got my head close to my heart, so my blood could get there. I put my legs up so gravity would help.

Realizing I was wheezing, I took a hot shower to help open up my lungs. And some sudafed. I drank some coffee.

I've got this belief that uppers help with asthma.

When none of that worked, I used my actual rescue inhaler. Which I hadn't used for years.

I'm fine, but that'll learn me to run when it is 51 F, windy, and dry.

Oh my.

Oh my.

Last night, in Solar Wind and Sale ...

They boarded a ship, and the boarded crew tried to space our protagonists. They failed, and our protagonists decided their sensor suite counted as cargo. Assholes.

They then offered anyone who wanted to join the crew of pirates. After giggling over "able seaman" versus "ordinary seaman" for a while, a bunch of crew joined. It should have been "able spacer", but meh. Note to self: write down some possible ranks, hand them to the Captain.

When they came back to port, the Boatswain (now named the Purser) sold the Prize, but admitted to ripping off the sensors. The dockmaster refused to pay full price, and the Boatswain accidentally gave him blackmail material. The dockmaster was going to use, it but the Boatswain asked the crew to rough the guy up.

My favorite boarder, Polya, stabbed the guy, and rolled him for cash. Then she left the ship to party and get laid. Exit stage left.

Then the PCs had to deal with these repercussions, including trying real hard not to let the dock master's boss get angry with them -- after all, they wanted to return to this port! PCs are the worst thing to ever happen to PCs.

The shipboard AI asked one of the sailors to space the bleeding dockmaster, which of course he did. Who'd turn against the AI?

I also got some good playtest material in! Some moves are gonna change, and some playbooks. One playbook was called "awful", which is probably an exaggeration but who knows!

Thanks, Obama. #ThanksObama

Thanks, Obama. #ThanksObama

Its been a golden eight years. We'll miss you, sir.

You and your family displayed constant grace. You taught us how to govern with humility, to deliberate and think before acting, and made us proud when we went abroad.

Michelle reminded us to eat well and to move, and that's ignoring that she's a talented lawyer and your greatest adviser. We watched Malia and Sasha grow up. You all acted as role models for each and every one of us. You embody the best of our ideals.

On a personal note, you made DC a cool place to live. Your restaurant choices have echoed my own, and I always felt a kinship. I was pleased so sit in your chair at the Dairy Godmother, and to order the same as you at Liberty Tavern.

You're the reason I pamphleted for the ACA, of course. You inspired me to try a career with the government, which didn't exactly work for me. Your policies have saved lives, eased suffering, and your approach to data-driven government has inspired my entire career.

Goodbye, sir.
http://a.abcnews.com/images/Politics/GTY_sasha_malia_25_mm_160502_2x3_1600.jpg

Do tell: What's the US government done for you in the last 8 years?

Do tell: What's the US government done for you in the last 8 years?

Markets & Mages is coming to Dreamation.

Markets & Mages is coming to Dreamation.

If you remember, this is my economic fantasy game set mainly between the adventure. You'll play a cleric or a paladin or whatever. The mainstay of the game is paying rent, and dealing with the problems of your friends and communities.

You pay the rent with your stuff, your bonds of fellowship, and your place in a community. Violence always costs you, and adventuring is the obvious way to increase your wealth.

The unequaled Anna Kreider has agreed to make sure it makes sense. She's a professional, and can give that outside perspective that I need so much.

I'm not sure I can read it more than twice more before Dreamation. I'm not sure I can do another playtest, but there's always a need for one more. I'd like it to be in better shape before then, and I sure hope it gets the people to run.

If things go well at Dreamation, I may look into a KS or print on demand situation. If its good enough for 300 page books, I'm not sure why it wouldn't be good enough for this.

Novel: Owner's Share

Novel: Owner's Share
Author: Nathan Lowell
Rating: 3 of 5

Our hero protagonist comes to own his own space company. That is, his own ship owned by a company that he owns. Well, that he owns most of, anyway. He deals with that with the same approach Ish takes to every other problems.

I would have preferred more money talk; how big are the shares? How do you split shares with only 5 crew? How much is the Owner's cut? Captain's?

I think we're told way back on the Lois that the Owner's share is 20%, and Captain's 10%, such that the 40 crew of the Lois share ~70% of the profits. That makes sense with a large crew, but how does that work with just a Captain, Engineer, and three enlisted?

Rating is down considerably due to the ending. Spoilers below.

-- spoilers ---

ok, Josh Mannon and Tony Lower-Basch.

I was really frustrated by the last ~50 pages or so. One of very few acts of on screen violence occurs, and it kills Ish's newfound love. As soon as he decides he can love someone on his ship, the narrative removes Greta.

I don't see the point; its an expected trope, and doesn't push the plot along. You don't need it; no one needed to die in that attack. I'm not sure the narrative even needs the attack, except to prove that Ish doesn't know what's going on.

Happy to be convinced otherwise.

Surviving a super-crowded DC inauguration or protest:

Surviving a super-crowded DC inauguration or protest:
-- DON'T expect cell phones to work.
-- DO expect security.
-- DO what security tells you, if anything.
-- DO wear layers. It'll be cold, but thousands of mammals will be warming the area.
-- DO keep your valuables secured.
-- DO expect to simply move along with a crowd, and some loss of physical autonomy.
-- DO already have a money loaded smart trip card. Even if you don't plan to metro, have a smart trip card. Buy before the big day.
-- DO expect to walk for many more miles than any route says; wear comfortable shoes.

This is a partial list, remembered from the Obama inauguration 8 years ago, and a protests and crap over the last few years.

I'm available for questions, in public or in private.

I sometimes advocate for simple solutions.

I sometimes advocate for simple solutions.

Here are a few, each six words or less:
Fix Obamacare: Replace with single payer.
Fix Welfare: Replace with Minimum Basic Income
Fix Electoral College: Replace with one person one vote.
Fix The House: Get rid of districts
Fix overcrowded jails: legalize drugs. All of them. Release.
Fix voter suppression: Everyone can vote. Period.
Fix Tax Bullshit: Remove all tax deductions. Automate statements.

I realize that, as we move into crazypants land, this is less relevant. Still, there are my simple solutions to hard long-term problems. Not a one is perfect, but not a one is worse than what we have now.

And you'll probably hate at least one of these. And that's OK.

What're your simply solutions for hard long standing problems? You have six words per problem.

Circle request - Brian Whitehead

Circle request - Brian Whitehead

Brian is new to plus, seeking a safer place than facebook or reddit. We went to college together and have pretty similar backgrounds. He's interested in meaningful opposition to right wing politics and raising children in today's world.

Unfortunately, he's not interested in roleplaying games to any particular degree.

Brian has a sense of humor, and is generally good people.

Dearest internet

Dearest internet,

Dreamation is coming. In my more confident moments, it seems reasonable to bring both:
-- Solar Wind & Sales, my pbta hack about space pirates
-- Markets and Mages: Convocation of Malqort, my pbta hack about what adventurers do after the adventure, maybe set in a theocratic society where undead do a lot of the industry.

In my less confident moments, I assume I'm a terrible MC and no one likes me and I shouldn't even go to Dreamation because I'll just make it worse for everyone.

Do please help me figure out truth. What parts of these are true?

Pernicious lie: Trust The Leader.

Pernicious lie: Trust The Leader.
Truth: The things this man says have no resemblance to truth.

Pernicious, unstated lie: The President gets to decide what is and is not fake news.
Truth: We have a free press enshrined in our founding documents.
Source: Amendment 1 of the US Constitution, reading in part: "...or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

Falsehood used to advance the underlying lie: CNN is fake news.
Truth: CNN is real news.
Source: CNN acted in accordance with journalistic integrity. They did not publish the dossier, but did inform us that there is reason to believe the PEOTUS is in the pocket of Russia.

It doesn't actually matter if the dossier is true. CNN published an important story that they had reason to believe was true and relevant, and omitted the worse details.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/313777-trump-berates-cnn-reporter-for-fake-news
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/313777-trump-berates-cnn-reporter-for-fake-news

New collection -- Negative Correlation.

New collection -- Negative Correlation.

Words are tools, which Donald Trump uses to harass and destroy. He mistreats the language and our country, and I'll collect some of those lies as we go along.

Sometimes, I'll get it wrong. While any particular thing DT says has a negative relationship with truth, even he sometimes utters a truth. Similarly, I may call a truth a falsehood.

I will also not even attempt to be exhaustive; he utters too many lies for me to keep track. That is, this list will not be exhaustive, exclusive, nor even entirely correct.

If it winds up here, I think it is a pernicious lie. If you spot me in error, do please let me know.

Obviously, feel free to opt out.

Ya damn right.

Ya damn right.

Originally shared by Rabid Feminist

Be like Sally

Remind me:

Remind me:
Is this political scene normal?

Should I read the sixth and final book of the Golden Clipper series now, or wait a while for the first five to...

Should I read the sixth and final book of the Golden Clipper series now, or wait a while for the first five to settle?

As an aside, its still less than a month since I picked up the first one. That is, those five disappeared.

Novel: Captain's Share.

Novel: Captain's Share.
Author: Nathan Lowell
Rating: 5 of 5

These books aren't subtle. But, they are really fun.

Our Hero Protagonist, Ishmael, finally gets a command of his own. He gets the worst ship in the six-ship fleet he works for, and immediately turns it around.

Of course he does. Ish is good like that. Counting Ish, there are eight crew members, including:
-- A cargo chief who doesn't pick cargoes. Ish empowers him to actually do his job.
-- A sailor with imagination, but who is unruly. Ish gets him under control by challenging him to beat the cargo chief at picking cargoes. "I could pick better cargoes!" "Oh yeah? Cool, prove it."
-- An engineering chief who talks like a child as protective camouflage. She loses this as the ship becomes a safer space.
-- An XO who talks too loudly due to hearing loss and not knowing it. Ish gets her to get her ears checked, and her entire personality changes.

There are other issues and plot and such, but these were the main touch stones in turning the ship and crew around. If you've got a good crew, you'll make money.

One thing I absolutely adore in these books is Ish's insistence that he's trying to make money. And he is, too! He knows everyone's incentives are aligned with the ship making money (everyone gets a share), so its his job to empower them to do their job.

Its a lot of how I think businesses should run: ensure employees have an immediate incentive to care about the business, management's job becomes empowering them, and everyone wins.

One moral of these books is: Incentives. They get the job done.

Failure!

Failure!

Winter is bad. I've gained 10 pounds since early November. Stress of the world ending, the lack of sunlight and heat, and eating too much are all contributory factors.

I ran yesterday. I'm getting back into it on the treadmill until I can run outside, just because I gotta do some maintenance.

And here's a secret: running a 5k is only about a 500 calorie burn. That's nothing huge, but. But. I am likely to eat less shit if I've run recently, and drink less, and be more generally active. And that's the real key: sweating makes me behavior better.

The stats so far:
Successes: 3
Tentative Successes: 1
Failures: 9

Novel: Double Share

Novel: Double Share
Author: Nathan Lowell
Rating: 2 of 5

I adore this series. This one, though, I had to almost put down.

Ish is a problem solver. In this one, Ish solves problems of what happens when shitty people are in charge of a spaceship.

Those worse excesses are not ones I want in my recreational reading. Namely, sexual harassment and assault.

While it is handled well, I had to stop, put the book down, and reach out to friends who had read it to make sure of that before continuing.

Hence the low rating.

Needed: Deck plans

Needed: Deck plans

Specifications: something akin to the Traveler Free Trader. My mental image is a 50 meter (or so!) space ship with 18 crew plus 4 officers.

The deck plans should show walls and rooms, but not what's in each room. So, for example, I don't want to know where the galley or the engine room is, but I sure do want spaces that can be marked as galley or engine room. No furniture.

At current, I'm using a map of a blank free trader. Which is close, but gives analysis paralysis, so I want something a little more filled in.

Something folks can easily draw on, or just write "crew berths" on.

Any suggestions hive mind?

Solar Wind & Sales

Solar Wind & Sales

Ran a playtest last night. It went super well.

By which I mean: some things worked as intended, some things were disastrous!

Having the 18 crew members onboard continues to work well. That is, there's a stable of NPC the PCs can interact with, talk to, and be mean to. They pulled a gun on Polya! She should have made them shoot, but I weaseled out. Next time: Crosshairs!

As is, we go around the table deciding on ship's systems. Right now, this is four tours around the circle. I think I can get it down to two -- every chooses a broken system, and a ship's system in good repair. Everything else is merely OK. The fifth roll, if it exists, will upgrade a single system at the end, and will unbroke a single system. So, we'll wind up with 3 broken systems, 3 OK systems, and 1 Great system.

This was the first time trying out the "fifth roll" -- in this case, the shipboard AI.

She has moves like "If someone should make a roll and no one has told them, go ahead and mention it. If they do it, mark xp", and "If someone rolls a 6-, explain how it'll be SO EXCITING", and her XP trigger is "participate in multiple conversations at once".

So far as I'm concerned, it worked. There were conversations and scenes I wasn't privy to, which then came back and shook the fabric of the ship! Not knowing everything is kinda my jam, and this was pretty great.

The proxy voting also worked!

See, everybody on a pirate ship gets an equal vote. So, that's the 4 officers and the 18 crew. The 4 officers are each responsible for a section, and have the proxy votes of that section. There's six sailors, five boarders, 4 traders, and 3 seers, so everybody has a different amount of political authority.

I need to make the procedure a bit more obvious, but I think it worked.

Still, things to modify!

Content warning: Spoilers.

Content warning: Spoilers.
Trigger warning: discussion of fictional sexual violence in fiction no one in this thread wrote.

Josh Mannon warned me, and I need to double check.

I've picked up Double Share, the fourth book in the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper series.

I am concerned.

Our protagonist has gone from the Lois, a lovely corporate ship, to what I'll call the Piece of Shit. I think I would have noticed warning signs without Josh's warnings, but now they are screaming.

So far, the signs are:
-- The waitress who says its "not a happy ship"
-- The XO calling another officer "hon"
-- The XO's general bullshit alpha male behaviors
-- Ish's shower mate saying "all men are like that"

These are blaring pretty loudly. Like, ALL HANDS ABANDON SHIP. There are some things I do not want in my fiction -- for a lot of reasons, but one sufficient reason is they make me a less empathetic and shittier person.

Here are those things:
-- On screen depictions of sexual violence.
-- Male privilege saving women from sexual violence
-- The use of rape and sexual violence as a plot device, and especially as a plot device to humanize women.
-- Depictions of sexual violence written in a way meant to turn on or titillate the audience.
-- Sexual violence treated as about sex rather than power.
-- The fiction excusing this shitty behavior.

For example -- spoilers! -- the use of sexual violence in Orphan Black or even Orange is the New Black can be OK. In these situations, it is (generally) the Patriarchy putting women into shitty situations, and then women get their revenge. Additionally, these are really about how shitty those situations are, and if they didn't have it happen, the stories would be worse.

Heck, I can even excuse the fiction allowing Vader to force choke Amidala. This is absolutely sexual violence, but there are real immediate and severe consequences -- to both of them. Still, this is on the edge.

So, Josh Mannon, what am I getting into?

Its cold and dark and i hate everything.

Its cold and dark and i hate everything.

Cold: I cannot run outside. Just being outside is painful.

Dark: The sunlight is weak even at noon, and 7 am is before daybreak.

Hate everything: Every email, every project makes me want to scream bloody murder. Or cry.

I know this is SAD. But, i can't care about that because SAD. I know it'll be better in a month, but I cannot comprehend it being better because SAD. I've managed to get through this every year. I know I will again this year.

But Christ.

#BadlyExplainYourHobby

#BadlyExplainYourHobby

I write about worlds that never existed as cover to talk about real-world politics.

I bait catholics, lawyers, and others who posses religion.

I sit in water and move my eyes across hundreds of pieces of stained pieces of wood, rarely the same one twice.

I go hundreds of miles to talk to strangers about worlds that don't exist, using arbitrary and arcane rules to decide what happens.

I almost fall as fast as I can across the same few hundred meters over and over again, hoping each time for a different result, all while engaging my mind and ears in with Tony-award winning musicals about insurrection popularly miscategorized as revolution.

I sit with a warm mammal touching me, covered in sheep's discarded hair while watching other mammals pretend to be different mammals who touch each other.

The Caliphate of Azithan needs a new name.

The Caliphate of Azithan needs a new name.

It needs a new name for two reasons:
1. There is no way I'm going to make "Caliphate" sound acceptable. Not never. Its only associated with anything positive in my mind because of the later Ender Wiggins books, and that's not an association I want.

2. Azithan sure sounds a lot like Azkaban.

I'm tempted by the Malik Republic, though I'd prefer a word that seems religious over Republic. I've never found a name that quite fits.

Suggestions?

New Yorkers!

New Yorkers!

I am fantasizing about moving to your fine city. This is very unlikely!

I went and looked up brownstones in Brooklyn. I found this:
https://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/abo/5943327153.html

The question: Is this a terrible price, or a pretty typical price?

If you are not currently conversed in the new york city housing market, feel free to comment and talk, but please leave the poll for those in the 5 to 8 Burroughs area.

Failure!

Failure!

The stats so far:
Successes: 3
Tentative Successes: 1
Failures: 8

Winter + Parties + Indigestion puts me at a pretty severe disadvantage. Fat is coming back on, and I do not like it.

Novel: Full Share

Novel: Full Share
Author: Nathan Lowell
Rating: 5 out of 5

Something weird happened towards the end of this book. Maybe something got in my eye -- some grit?

Our protagonist proves himself once again and continues moving up the ranks.

These first three form a natural trilogy. It'll be a few days until I have the fourth.

And time I read one of these, I get new ideas for my pirate game, too!

2016 Year In Review

2016 Year In Review

Overall, 2016 has been a terrible year. All trumped up.

Let me clear about that: nothing good that occurred for me can counteract that harm.

Personally: We went to Australia! I've loved my wife, read 30+ books, and lost 20+ pounds. My sister visited, and had a surprise wedding when we visited Oklahoma to surprise mom for Thanksgiving. I was unironically described as "woke", picked up a 5k habit, and expanded my technical skills. I've gained new friends, and lost a few.

Gaming: I've played a lot of cool games, and written a decent game or two. Went to Dreamation for the first time, Camp Nerdly for the nth. We're on the end of a Space Wurm versus Moonicurn campaign, which is a sequel campaign to a super hero game, with microscope in between. My gaming Thursday nights continue to be fruitful, both in terms of games and in providing support for the crew.

Books: 32 were fiction, 4 were non-fiction, and 1 was a memoir. 27 were written by men, 10 by women. 13 had male only protagonists, 20 had women as protagonists, or as shared protagonists. 4 had no protagonist -- non-fiction. 33 (!) were by US authors, four by identifiable non-US authors. Twelve involved a WoC, whether as author or as protagonist.

I'm stretching those definitions a little -- I'm counting The Expanse because Naomi, and the coin & dagger series as the protagonist is not from the dominant type of human. Of those 12, only two were by a woman of color: The Best Of All Worlds, and The Summer Prince

Health: I'm down 20 pounds, thanks in large part to an economics experiment. My 5k time got down to below 34 minutes before it got cold. I'm hopeful I can get down to below 30 minutes before 5k season.

Financially, the long game: Roughly a 1 in 4 chance of retirement before age 50, 7 in 10 chance before 55, and ~100% before 60.That's lower than I want, and fixable by finishing my roth for the year, and increasing my 401(k) savings.

The medium game: I've got less cash on hand than I like. This is probably solveable through 2017 by, well, not going to Australia.

The short game: Monthly obligations are satisfied. That is: rent is paid, checking account is positive, and debts are under control. I continue to have a job.

Gifting: Between the campaign and give directly, I've given away more money than in any previous year. Given the long game, I'm likely to give away less this year.

These were some of my major projects for the year. What did you work on?