Sunday, May 31, 2015

Rebuild 3 is delightful.

Rebuild 3 is delightful.

I'm on the second mission, and it is taking longer than I really want it to. I'm into a slog -- I need to completely finish off a faction or two, and that takes a lot of time.

In Nudge, Thaler and Sunstein discuss the notion of libertarian paternalism.

In Nudge, Thaler and Sunstein discuss the notion of libertarian paternalism.

This holds two things as true:
1. You should, in all cases, be able to make your own decisions.
2. The default decision should be a good one.

Obvious examples:
1. Automatic enrollment in 401(k) plans, and into a target year fund.
2. On a cafeteria-style lunch line, put the salad first and the dessert last. Make it so I have to reach across the oranges to even get to the snickers.
3. Enroll every kiddo in gym, health class, and some math.

In all sorts of ways, we make the default buyer beware, rather than positive. Our default mortgages are low-downpayment and high interest. Credit Cards make it easy to carry a balance. We offer illusionary convenience as the default, and make it seem unreasonable to live debt free.

We do this to ourselves in a bunch of different areas; we make life more expensive, poorer, and less healthy by the way we structure decisions for others.

And here's the best part: It in no way impacts your freedom if the default is good for you. You are still free to pay the minimum, get an ARM loan, or eat a dozen snickers bars.

Freedom may be the freedom to make stupid decisions (and starve due to it), but freedom isn't the freedom to have the deck stacked against you.

Friday, May 29, 2015

So -- WRESTLING

So -- WRESTLING

our weekly game night (Thursday, at the Complete Strategist in Falls Church. Show up at six for sushi, or seven for game!) rotates games and GMs. We do pitch sessions. Our games are often heroic, with a lean towards the bizarre.

Last night, everyone played World Wide Wrestling; I ran it. Six players, one GM.

Due to a technical glitch on my end, I was armed with the free public materials; which were more than sufficient.

This game has things every AW hack should have:
1. A list of what I need to bring.
2. Fantastic GM facing materials (a list of hard versus soft moves! Principles! Explained Agenda!)
3. What To Do In The First Session Sheet.

So. Good.

A few other things -- none of us know anything about wrestling. Between the wrestling move sheet (pictures!), and thinking of it as a layer performance (play a performer playing a wrestler), we were able to get into it.

So, what happened in our game? Well, we were the International Ballistic Intercontinental Wrestling Championship -- economies came and went based on how well they wrestled.

Scripting what interview segments between matches threw me at first, but we got it thanks to the materials. I had scripted to ensure everyone was in a match -- two, actually.  I wanted three matches of 2x2, followed by a "losers" match with four, then a winner versus the champion. We almost got that, but with some big changes to the script.

The scripting out what happens in advance is delightful, and having it change based on players doing their job well is great. You plan, but know the plans get thrown out.

Highly recommended.

A lot was going on yesterday and meant I was really running on vapors: Hopefully my comment about expiring links...

A lot was going on yesterday and meant I was really running on vapors: Hopefully my comment about expiring links didn't cause too many people upsettedness.

Which is to say: I was being a bit of a shit due to unrelated reasons.

Soon: All the greatness from WWW!

Thursday, May 28, 2015

About to download and print the WWW documents I paid for.

About to download and print the WWW documents I paid for.

And the download link is expired. And I didn't get it into my G drive.

Who uses a 24 hour link, anyway? And who doesn't save things to the G drive?

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

I asked for something sweet. Dianne made chocolate cake. Just a normal Tuesday.


I asked for something sweet. Dianne made chocolate cake. Just a normal Tuesday.

This is perfectly scrambled eggs, homemade buttermilk biscuit, goat cheese, and a rasperberry-chipotle-cocoa jam.


This is perfectly scrambled eggs, homemade buttermilk biscuit, goat cheese, and a rasperberry-chipotle-cocoa jam. And that coffee? Cold brew, not iced.

Made by Dianne Harris 

Makes a body strong.