WISH 59 (original) asks: Name three games you might use to get someone who has never roleplayed before into roleplaying. Well, it depends on the someone, of course. The games I’d use for my 12 year old nephew might not be the games I’d use for my mom. But, hey, here’s a shot at it. Feng Shui (original) is a strong first choice. Character creation is really simple, especially if you stay away from the martial artists. The genre is one that’s perfect for cutting straight to the action, and PCs are likely to succeed. The chances of a negative experience right out of the gate are pretty slim. Of course, it’s also a fairly violent game, so maybe not the best for Mom, which leads us to… ...

Short form of the controversy: Dave Winer and Harvard are throwing a one-day blogging convention at Harvard. The entry fee is $500; $250 if you’re a Harvard affiliate. This strikes some people as too high. Today, Dave explained why the fee was $500, as follows: 1. It’s absolutely non-profit. OK, good. Irrelevant to why the cost is so high, though. bq. 2. We will use the money to pay expenses for speakers and students who will get in for free, some of whom will have their expenses paid. ...

Remember what Warren Ellis said about Mark Waid, spiky metal things, and Marvel? Read that, then read this (original). “Joe’s done a lot to make right what has been an unfortunate situation,” Waid said. “Not only is there no bad blood, but the door is open for me at Marvel and in some form or another, there is more Fantastic Four in my future.” 10 of 10 for Mr. Ellis. Well done, sir!

Warren Ellis has some simple words of wisdom on the Mark Waid firing (original). Let it rip, Warren: I dunno. I used to know Mark. He’s been humped by Marvel two or three times previous to this. If you keep going back to a place where they fuck you in the arse with spiky metal things, then after a while people will simply assume you like it. It’s kind of a non-story. ...

Boston’s doing pretty well in the community wireless sphere, although perhaps not as well as Portland (original). Now Somerville is talking about business-based free community wireless networks. Not only is this fun times for me, it’s got cool potential as a prototype that could easily catch on elsewhere. Michael Oh is thinking of each network he builds as an instance of a larger concept, rather than building one-offs, which is the kind of thinking that makes a difference in the long term. ...

The new — the last — Warren Zevon album comes out on August 26th. The buzz is good.

Not getting so very much press, but there’s a little war brewing between Ashcroft’s Justice Department and the American jucidiary. The proximate trigger was a recent Ashcroft’s directive to federal prosecutors: he wanted ‘em to research judges who give light sentences (original). Ashcroft has kind of been under the radar recently, what with the war and all. Seems as good a time as any to link once again to his interview (original) with the neo-confederate magazine Southern Partisan. (They called him “a jealous defender of national sovereignty against the New World Order.”) ...

First, watch this (Quicktime, 1.7 megs). Then, read the rest of the Web site. Especially make sure you read the thesis, even though it’s long. You never knew about Disney dissecting fawns before, did you?

Every now and then someone writes a really good document on interacting with non-techies for techies. Here’s one about giving status reports. As I changed from a techie into a manager with delusions of techieness, I could feel myself beginning to want the strange things Richard Threadgill talks about therein.

As we all know, many suspected terrorists in the United States are enemy combatants (original). This designation is used for those whose detention is a matter of national security. They don’t get the same rights as you and I, because giving them an open trial — or even access to their lawyer — is a risk. Can’t take risks with American lives. Meanwhile, in that bastion of civil rights that is Indonesia, the Indonesian government somehow managed to give Bali bomber Amrozi bin Nurhasyim a relatively normal trial. This, despite the active network of terrorists inside Indonesia. You’d think that if the United States is at risk when letting suspects talk to lawyers, Indonesia would be more so.