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WISH 65 asks about jobs and gaming: Does what you do for a living have any impact on your gaming? Have you had occupational details intrude on your descriptions of how something works? Have you ever dared a player to go “Hotwire a car, then, if that’s how you think it’s done?” I’m a computer guy, but the answer’s really “Nah.” I’ve played Shadowrun, and I don’t really mind that decking is nothing like real computer work — it’s just an analogy for magic anyway, so I can take it at that level happily enough. I don’t mind if someone gets their hacking descriptions wrong, and I generally assume any modern-day game takes place in a slightly alternate universe. ...

Somewhat later than I would like, it’s time for another Monday Mashup. I was forcibly restrained from doing Finnegan’s Wake. People have no sense of fun. So instead I’ll do something classic. Dukes of Hazzard. It’s a fun-loving family who’s continually plagued by incompetent venal lawmen for no good reason — kind of an updated Robin Hood, in a way, but without the political aspect. There are lots of car chases, which are close to any gamer’s heart. Have at it, and damned be him who first cries “Hold, enough!” (Couldn’t figure out how to mash Macbeth, but maybe next week.)

Busy day, but I take time to note the following additions to the list of VeriSign referrals: bareinnocence.net innocencetop.com

Bravo finished showing the first season of The West Wing, which seems like as good a time as any to talk about it. I’m gonna keep watching, and I might even buy the DVD set. When you get right down to it, Aaron Sorkin knows how to write really good dialogue, and he knows how to pluck the heartstrings. The closing moments of “In Excelsis Deo” are really drop dead beautiful and touching. I care about the characters, too. ...

This is very sad. The Online Computer Library Center, who owns the Dewey Decimal System, is suing the Library Hotel. Apparently one’s not permitted to use the DDC without purchasing a license. Since Melvil Dewey first published the DDC in 1876, one would think that at least the early editions would have passed out of copyright, but perhaps there’s a wrinkle I don’t understand. It’s still a malicious, nasty lawsuit. “A person who came to their Web site and looked at the way (the hotel) is promoted and marketed would think they were passing themselves off as connected with the owner of the Dewey Decimal Classification system.” ...

Haven’t seen Underworld yet, but it’s in the theaters. Here’s one take on the similarities between White Wolf’s mythos and the movie. Here’s someone disagreeing (original). Maybe I’ll get out to see it this afternoon and chime in with my own thoughts. I’m getting PACER access so I can read the court documents, but once you request access they send you the password via regular mail so it may be a couple of days yet before I can go hunting for minutae.

Haven’t fared past the first run of breakfast joints I found for a while, but I did today. The Lighthouse in Medford Square is not exceptional and does not provide any unusual taste treats, but it does a basic breakfast damned well and I rather expect I’ll drift by there again from time to time. The coffee is OK and the hash browns are not too greasy; the french toast is angelic. Bring your own real maple syrup.

One of the members of the Iraqi Governing Council was shot today (original). Potential motivations are plentiful. Akila al-Hashimi is a woman, she cooperates with the United States, she is a Shiite, and she was a Ba’athist. There are indications that women aren’t being treated so well in Iraq these days. Certainly cooperating with the United States can be dangerous (original). The Sunnis are worried about Shiite power gains, which has motivated recent killings. And nobody likes the Ba’athists. ...

This is the Isabel picture I’d been looking for; saw it once, couldn’t find it again, now I have. Amazing. randomWalks has more picture links (original). Snopes is tracking that tanker picture. I think it’s Photoshopped; the sea is too calm.

In honor of the impending election season, and because — oh, wait, nobody demanded it. Well, our mashup of the day is The West Wing anyway. Depending on how you look at it, West Wing is either a brilliant show about a team of exceptional individuals working to maintain their ideals under the spotlight of Presidential politics, or it’s a self-indulgent epic about a bunch of unlikely White House staffers that takes place in an alternate reality in which liberal politics work. Either way, it’s got that snappy Aaron Sorkin dialogue and it’s kind of nice to pretend that our government is that idealistic. Have at it.