IFMapper (original) is pretty sweet, if you’re wanting to map interactive fiction. I’ve tried a few mappers over the years, and none of them had a sufficiently low degree of friction for me to keep using ‘em. IFMapper is nicely painless.

These Depression era photos in color are amazing; the subjects are interesting, but the perceptual aspect is more so. I think perhaps we’re used to thinking of the denizens of the 30s in black and white. These color versions — surely they’re publicity stills from Seabiscuit or Road to Perdition? It seems artificial, even though it’s definitionally authentic. We don’t live in the world we live in. It’s an imaginary construct, and it’s surprising to see it as it really is. ...

My opinion on the news I just read is sort of an incoherent haze of happiness. So, Mister Bond, would you like a six CD set (original) of Richard Thompson rarities and live performances for your birthday? “Yes please.” Gosh. What’s going to be on it? Lots of stuff. (original) An entire CD full of live performances with extended improvisations. A CD of covers! Which has that cover of “Willie and the Hand Jive/Not Fade Away” he was doing on the 1985 tour on it — pity they didn’t stick his “ Hey Joe” on there. What an insane set.

You know, you ought to be able to comment on Google search results. Hm.

David Pinto comments on the Beckett trade here and here. Both times he notes that the Red Sox are going for “win now” rather than rebuilding — but it doesn’t seem to me like that’s a wildly goofy thing to do. The Red Sox are one year off from a World Series victory and they have three postseason appearances in a row; in theory, at least, it makes sense to try and keep the streak going rather than rebuild. ...

The character questionnaire for “Whitey’s Boyos” (name still tentative, suggestions welcome) follows. The context: Whitey’s squad of demon-killing hard-nosed bruisers has around for nine months or so now. A couple of the original members have died; there have been a couple of new recruits. The player characters are the entire squad. They are not expected to have jobs outside the life — Whitey pays a generous stipend to people willing to risk their lives fighting demons. ...

I finished A Feast for Crows last night. It’s quite a book; slow through much of the first half and picking up in the end. My favorite character doesn’t appear at all, since he’s off in the section of the world that will be handled in the next book. Things happen. We see a lot of Dorne; I liked that a lot. I’ll touch on some spoilers in the extended entry, but before that: I also have the Guardians of Order A Game of Thrones RPG in hand. (Put it together with The World’s Largest Dungeon and Hero Fifth Edition Revised, which I happen to be able to do at the moment, and you’ve got a hefty chunk of book.) So, campaign: Three players; one’s a cousin of Ned Stark, one’s a cousin of Tywin Lannister, and one’s a cousin of Mace Tyrell. Possibly once-removed in any of those cases. Also possibly bastards, but if so, recognized. Either gender works. All of them are between the ages of 13 and 16; they’ve all been fostered down to Dorne a year or two before the beginning of A Song of Ice and Fire. I’d run for a few sessions focusing on childhood concerns, letting the characters develop, letting them bond. Then I’d start running the events leading up to the War of Five Kings, without any particular expectations as to the reactions of the characters. At the start, they’d be fairly fringe. By the time the fourth book rolls around, there are enough dead people so that their place in the lines of succession might be important. OK, spoilers follow.

While driving home along Mass Ave last night, right after the Virgin Megastore and right before Longfellow Bridge, I notice one of those big LED official traffic billboards with some unexpected messages on it. The first one, I’m thinking, “Well, that’s a bit odd but maybe it’s some nice gesture for some cop who’s retiring or something.” Then I see the second message. ...

Show up at a Bush event with a Kerry/Edwards T-shirt: get thrown out. Show up at a Kerry event with a Bush/Cheney T-shirt: nobody cares. Same person, same day, same state. Edit: er, different state. Just very close.

First things first: Indianpolis is not big on the wireless access. The nearest Starbucks to the convention center is in Conseco Fieldhouse, and while it was a pleasure seeing Larry Bird’s arena, they did not have wireless. If you’d been around Saturday morning, you’d have seen me warwalking down the street trying to nail down one of the maddeningly unstable wireless connections emanating from sixth floor apartments. I had no luck. ...