Random News Table for Friday, July 10, 2009

Roll 1d6 and select result

1. Police foill zeppelin jailbreak

2. Thomas Jefferson Code cracked after 200+ Years

3. Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' Broadway-Bound

4. North Korean hackers blamed for sweeping cyber attack on US networks

5. The Depot -- "A General Store of Old West RPG Resources." I can see this being very useful for Ranger Co. X!

6. Nazis Close to Perfecting Stealth Bomber

While the Princess Bride and I were off celebrating Independence Day in Amarillo, Texas, we popped into a couple of antique shops along Old Route 66, a stretch of shops and restaurants.

In one, I found this particular item:

The cover was seriously beat up, and I could tell just how fragile the pages inside were, even given its comparative youth (April 1955). But still, it is an honest-to-goodness pulp magazine, and I was able to by it (my first) for five measly bucks.

Random News Table for Friday, July 03, 2009

Roll 1d6 and select result

1. 'Ark of the Covenant' about to be unveiled?

2. Or Not

3. Flying car to be unveiled in 2011

4. Entire New 13-Story Building Tips Over in Shanghai

5. Space Shuttle Science Shows How 1908 Tunguska Explosion Was Caused By A Comet

6. Cthulhu-esque creature in a North Carolina Sewer - What the heck is that thing?

Random News Table for Friday, June 26, 2009

Roll 1d6 and select result

1. Only in the Subway

2. Zombie Flicks represent Progressive Politics?

3. The Pyramid of North Dakota

4. Kids' "power station" sparks radiation alert

5. ANALYSIS: Michael Jackson as Gothic Horror Figure

6. Elderly man survives 4 days trapped in well

Theologian and Futurist Leonard Sweet (also here) tweeted the following two observations on Sunday:

# Who will be fathers to the fatherless? 40% of children who live in fatherless households haven’t seen their father in at least a year

# In Hebrew Scriptures, God is addressed as "Father" only 11 times. In New Testament, Jesus himself so addressed God as "Father" 107 times.

During his campaign for President, Barack Obama stressed his desire to see men step up to the plate and take seriously their responsibilities. I had a great conversation with my dad last night. He was thrilled with his gift from the Princess Bride and me: a miniature branding iron with his intial as the 'brand' that he could use to mark his steaks cooked on the grill and a gift of a few Omaha Steaks to practice branding. But he was more happy with what I wrote in the card, to wit, that I was proud to bear his 'brand.' By 'brand' I mean not just his name, but also his influence, teaching, and example. All of these have shaped who I am today, and I pray that I bear that brand faithfully.

But, being the geek that I am, I got to thinking about geek fathers that I am acquainted with over the net. As the Princess Bride and I do not have any geeklings of our own, I am forced to live vicariously through the posts of others.

Steve Nibblelink regularly posts about his family, and what he writes reveals him to be very loving, patient and committed not just to his children, but also to their mother. He is obviously in love with his wife, and desperately wants to be there for her during her days of trials, and he has raised three very knowledgeable, media-savvy geeklings, one of which he has seen graduate high school and make her way to boot camp.

Jess Nevins ratmmjess, annotator of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen graphic novel and author of books on Victorian and pulp-era fiction, often takes many of his posts on Live Journal and Facebook and dedicates them to his son, Henry. He is obviously thrilled to be a father, and quite proud of his bouncy baby boy.

Derek Webb, a fellow pastor and geek I met via the Christian Gamers Guild just welcomed a new baby to his family. I followed his Twitter postings leading up to the birth of his child and was moved by the depth of concern that all would be well, even as this was his second child and one might think the novelty had worn off. I can attest that it had not. His tweets glowed with the fascination and apprehension inherent in bringing a new life into this world.

Kenneth Newquist is what I would consider another great example of a geek father. He regularly reads to his kids and is willing to watch movies with them. But he also is willing to be up at 3:00 a.m. after his son has a bad dream. Together, they watch Cars until the little one is secure enough once again to enter dreamland. Ken isn't afraid of doing the dirty work that comes with the job. IN fact, though I've never seen him say so directly, I suspect he loves it, because its obvious he loves his kids.

There is a lot of evidence of and resources for geek dads all over the internet. A Goggle Search pulls 579,000 hits on the phrase 'Geek Fathers.' There is a blog available that covers topics of interest to geek fathers. And there is another blog entry that I have found to be very helpful: Ten Reasons Geeks Make Great Dads.

I resonate deeply with two of the posts points. First of all, as fathers, it is important for us to truly love our children's mothers. I've heard it said many times, and I believe it to be true, that deep down kids desperately want to know that Mom and Dad (as a couple) are all right. They want them to be together for ever, because kids want to have that strong, profound and committed permanence in their world. Speaking for myself, I have no interest in the single life at all any more. I love my wife, and I don't plan on doing something stupid, like screwing up my marriage. I don't think I'm unique in the geek world, and I think that makes for great families.

The other thing I agree with that makes a geek a great dad is the willingness to play with your kids. Yes, even silly games. Trust me, they will remember the times you played laser tag ( to use the blog post's example) more than they will the nice things you bought them on an overachieving workaholic's salary.

My dad is not a geek. But one of the things I really love about him is that even if he didn't always get the stuff I enjoyed (he fell asleep during Star Wars fer cryin' out loud!), he gave me the freedom to enjoy it without being judged. Oh, and he was also tickled to tell me that my niece called to tell him that she and her husband are expecting their firstborn, a chance for him to be a great-grandpa!

Love ya Dad!

And to all geek dads out there, don't make me regret what I've written!

Over at Mad Brew Labs, they're hosting one of those merry, mad RPG Carnival thingies. This month's spotlight is on Steampunk and Klokwerks.

Now, I've wanted to participate in past carnivals alongside so many of my online friends, but I've just not had the inspiration or the time.

This month, however, I've had an inspiration, and wanted to get it out to the universe at large while I still had the time (after all, the month is fast slipping away). My inspiration is for a character, one who is not all that he seems. Allow me to introduce

Jasper Wickham Oswald

An extremely nearsighted inventor who is highly self-conscious and mousey. He has created a set of goggles that feature custom-ground opticals that correct his vision to 20/20 and better! While wearing the goggles, he undergoes something of a transformation. No longer the self-conscious wallflower, Jasper becomes supremely confident, even heroic.

1) Jasper Oswald = Doc Zephyr

In this scenario, Jasper is one of the members of the team of adventurers led by the mysterious and dashing Doc Zephyr. Jasper is the geeky, extremely nearsighted gadgeteer/tinkerer who develops all of the gadgets for the team, including the teams signature airship, the Zephyr. He is never seen with Doc, and most assume that he prefers the 'security' of his lab/workshop. The other team members believe that Jasper's 'pot' is definitely 'cracked.' The secret is that Doc Zeppelin is, in reality Jasper Oswald He navigates the airship by means of hidden passageways and ladders so that the team never suspects that Jasper is the good Doc himself.

2) Jasper Wickham Oswald: the 'Aerial Torpedo, Righter of Wrongs.' Jasper has invented, along with his special goggles, an 'aerial backpack' which is capable of propelling him through the air.

These are two slightly different directions for a character that I would love to play sometime. I've never played in a steampunk setting, and I realize that my characterizations of Jasper lean a little towards the pulpy direction, but I do hope that these sketches may inspire someone else's games and that fun will ensue.

Random News Table for Friday, June 19, 2009

Roll 1d6 and select result

1. Harvard Psychiatrist Explains Zombie Neurobiology

2. Twin Peaks to return via the internet

3. Cocaine Found Hidden Inside Frozen Sharks

4. Jupiter's moon Io could one day break free

5. Kitty Hawk - Pulp-themed comic

6. Ancient Chinese Star Chart

Random News Table for Sunday, June 14, 2009

Roll 1d6 and select result

1. 7 Most Fascinating Underwater Ruins

2. Roswell Dig Findings Come to Light

3. The Compiled List of One Page Dungeon Entries

4. Evidence of Incan Human Sacrifices in Peru

5. Innsmouth Free Press - a Lovecraftian Fiction 'zine.

6. Dr. Wendell A. Howe: Temporal Anthropologist with the University of Cambridge since 2610; Licensed Time Traveler, Certified by the Institute of Time Travel; Doctorate Degrees in History and Anthropology, specializing in Victorian England.

Random News Table folr June 5, 2008

As before, roll d6 and select the result:

1. Parts of a Nearby Galaxy are Missing -- Was it Col. Mustard in the Conservatory with the Candlestick?

2. Is it okay to show your patriotism at the office? Apparently not.

3. RIP David Eddings

4. Spy satellites are getting too good when they can spot Penguin poo from space.

5. The Dancing Pirate, a 1936 film about "a Boston dance teacher who gets shanghaied by buccaneers who might make his next steps be off the plank (synopsis from the IMDB entry)."

6. RIP David Carradine of Kill Bill and Kung Fu fame.

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