concordia discors

Let's celebrate! My blog is 19 years old

2022-12-14T13:18:50Z

Dear God.

Let's celebrate! My blog is 18 years old

2021-12-14T13:21:56Z

I mean, what the hell happened

Picspam, from-out-of-nowhere edition

2021-06-26T00:06:34Z

Since the auto-crossposting from Dreamwidth didn't work, here it is manually. Enjoy!

No original content contained herein and no ownership implied; all material ganked from the farthest reaches of the Internets. If unsatisfied with picspam, please return unused portion of post for a full refund. Use only as directed. If symptoms persist, see a doctor.

FTSIO

2017-04-09T00:10:57Z

In case you missed it, our new Cyrillic overlords have gone off the James-Bond-villain-level deep end, and sadly, not the one filled with sharks. So after this post I'm buggin' out.

But that's okay. You can always find new-ish content at the Tumblr (yes, GDBM is behind, but there's a reason, and I'm lookin' ta fix it) or even at the Twitter if you're somewhat familiar. You can find an email address for me if you're halfway good at putting 2 and 2 together. And peace out, my peeps. We all need to not be here anymore.

sigma7 @ 2017-02-12T18:45:00

2017-02-13T00:45:26Z

sigma7 @ 2016-11-09T15:49:00

2016-11-09T21:49:40Z

GDBM: Hard Reset

2016-07-01T17:53:57Z

Since we last visited the Goddamn Batman, the cinematic Batmen have (a) quit being Batman and (b) used guns to (c) kill people. Comic readers might see any of those three points as inherently antithetical to the Darknight Detective’s ethos, but they are simply how the character has been interpreted for a modern cinematic context. In the spirit of alternative interpretation, we present our own Goddamn Batman. He is creative, a foodie, and a dance machine. He aspires to be a master chef, and to have his own bakery, from which he will sell 40 cakes.

(I gave up waiting for a usable cowl and made my own, which is why it’s so ugly and polygonny. Sorry.) Anyhow, let’s slap some duds on the poor guy and get him on the road to his lifetime aspiration. Them cakes ain’t gonna cook demselves.

We’ll also go ahead and plonk him down in a house without digging into his pittance of $20k -- it’s no stately Wayne Manor, but it’s a comfortable start.

It’s a cozy little habitat from which Goddamn can (a) get a job as a dishwasher (the lowest rung on the culinary job ladder) and (b) start studying cooking, not just to improve his meals, but to up his job performance, as well.

Eventually, of his own accord, Goddamn decides to take a swing at his first meal. He hits up the grill...

...and comes away with a plate of perfectly normal hot dogs.

So I guess it’s a little hard to eat with that goddamn cowl on.

Note also that our friend is a dance machine -- he derives great enjoyment from dancing under any circumstances, even if he has literally no skill in it whatsoever.

Repeat: no skill.

Whatsoever.

“And why doesn’t Batman dance anymore?” asked Adam West. Well....

Eventually Goddamn spends all night of his last night before work dancing, then decides to take in a little TV before bed:

His last thought before bed?

“Bongos. My God.” >zzzzzz<</div> Originally posted to my Dreamwidth account as LJ is building a giant wall around itself. You can comment there using your LJ login as an OpenID, or here. Either's good.

poke

2016-06-19T17:20:42Z

Sorry, y'all. I'm never on LJ, much less DW, anymore. I just needed to do a little housekeeping today. Can't make a promise to be more blee-blee-blee than usual. Maybe I should try. Sigh. So very tired.

I am most active on Twitter, then on Tumblr, neither with the gab-tastic fury I used to bring to the blogging world, though. The long game has become so very long, and my fire is burning low. And if you really need to get a hold of me, try my username at Google's email service and I might just get it (along with the mail for some dude from New Delhi who really needs to stop sending me his taxi receipts for Christ's sake).

Anyhow. Hope all are well, or as well as possible given our circumstances.

Originally posted to my Dreamwidth account as LJ is building a giant wall around itself. You can comment there using your LJ login as an OpenID, or here. Either's good.

He's baaaaaack

2015-09-13T01:45:55Z

Keep your eyes peeled on here and Tumblr. May use the latter to crowdsource some decision-making, i.e. aspirations....

sitrep

2015-08-18T17:25:56Z

Moving is like death, only heavier and harder to wedge through a door.

no gnus here

2015-03-05T17:04:18Z

Uhm, compared to certain sectors of my f-list, I've had an absolutely silent winter. Work is problematic in newly-catastrophic ways, but I'm working on an endgame. Been playing Battlefield 4 on the 360 in addition to my usual Steam-cooked yummies (fought my way to the end of Besiege with some hysterically-unwieldy creations). I beat Far Cry 4 and got the worst ending possible so I'm seriously pissed off at it to the point that I don't even want to go back for more achievements. Back to FC3, then.

What else? Face is pretty much fixed. Heart has been cooperative. I have a friend at work, finally. Keeping the migraines at bay with more or less constant hydration. New car is awesome. No financial or social or biological emergencies. It's weird, but I ain't complainin', just noting.

Hope y'all's good out there. Peace out, kids.

yay

2014-09-30T17:21:33Z

Copy of novel found in the most unusual place. Life...good, I suppose.

sigma7 @ 2014-09-29T18:26:00

2014-09-29T23:24:52Z

Oh, wow. Guess who seems to have deleted his novel and doesn't remember it?

Ambien's a helluva drug, kids.

words, words, words

2014-09-29T12:49:00Z

I've been told that I'm required to do NaNo this year, if only to continue the story from the NaNo of many years past. Still contemplating. Might give my LJ a reason to exist, at least. Pondering.

Edit: I think I'll try to get my private wiki back up and running so I can sort out not only what's come before but what has to come after (and a few dozen things that've changed between then and now). If I can get a decent grasp on things, I may go ahead with it. And if people want to be betas, I may do the f-locked entries again. Seems like the only viable method of publication.

Oh, I almost forgot....

2014-05-05T17:53:59Z

...a certain someone just might be darkening my Tumblr soon. Stay tuned.

Game on

2014-01-07T19:54:00Z

(x-posted from Tumblr because I'm bored)

I have succumbed to peer pressure and tried FTL and am loving it, but for very small details. This is the kind of thing I would’ve blown up a bus full of nuns for when I was in high school — tactical starship combat with systems being damaged/repaired.

Note that its terms are relative: “easy” means “you will die repeatedly until you learn how not to.” “Normal,” I suppose, means “you will die repeatedly despite any action on your part.”

I think my favorite part of it is that it seems to create its own narrative, each runthrough being a unique little adventure. Once I finished the game (read: when my ship was torn to shreds) with an entirely different crew that started, due to space spiders and a few problems with the circulation. Once I got two sectors in before my crew was extinguished save one, and he bravely tromped through five more sectors solo before finding new friends with whom to die in flames.

XCOM: Enemy Within has that same feeling of each runthrough birthing its own unique adventure — doubly so if you’ve played through the original Enemy Unknown and are totally taken aback by the expansion/sequel’s twists, at least one of which is just cruel. But if you never thought turn-based strategy could be frenetic, try escaping from Newfoundland. (I’ve had bad trips to Newfoundland, but none quite that bad.)

And being a fan of the classic Hitman series, I’m intermittently poking through Hitman: Absolution. My playthroughs are typically exercises in stealth fail, degenerating into long drawn-out shootouts and merciful restarts. My first play of “The King of Chinatown” involved me scoping out the scene thoroughly, making two cursory runs of the perimeter, and then deciding to finally take action when I found the level exit. At that moment, the titular king (and my target) walked right up to me, right on past, and started urinating in the corner right next to the level exit, out of sight of everyone else. Easiest level ever: strangle, walk three feet, win. But I still haven’t found a good substitute for the joy of throwing a pair of scissors twenty yards with lethal aim and force. Last time I tried something like that in real life I got tetanus shots.

Before I forget....

2013-12-20T16:59:34Z

I'm totally not checking LJ anymore. I tried to keep up, but I let it get outta hand, so...I'm not ignoring you, I'm just in LJ bankruptcy. Sincere apologies if I missed anything.

I'm typically on Twitter (locked, poke me and I'll let you in) and Tumblr, though. You'd like Tumblr. It's like an IV of picspam, a daily drip straight into your veins. And, of course, if'n you need anything, you can always drop me a line via email -- my user name at gmail.com.

Hope y'all're doin' well.

sigma7 @ 2013-10-16T11:04:00

2013-10-16T16:04:11Z

Bad Lip Reading + Game of Thrones = WHARRGARBL

What I've been doing since I've been away....

2013-09-04T14:44:30Z

I bring nothing into the Drift

2013-07-17T02:07:08Z

Soon we shall talk of many things. But not today. Today I have one word for you.

Cool.

Cool cool cool.

Originally posted to my Dreamwidth account as LJ is building a giant wall around itself. You can comment there using your LJ login as an OpenID, or here. Either's good.

Project 123: a work in progress

2013-07-09T23:53:53Z

So I've been hammering away at this little project intermittently (and ignoring it for months on end), but I think I've finally hit a wall and need some help.

Here's the story: when playing NCAA Football 12 for the Playstation 3, I took great delight in the create-a-school function. You get to create your own teams, logos, uniform colors, stadiums, and customize the entire roster. So I had a few favorite teams put in pretty quickly.

But then, I thought, why stop there?

At the time the game shipped with 123 actual college teams. And you could replace any of them. You could replace all of them, you know, if you were an absolute masochist with hours of spare time to oh yeah that's me.

When I first started I only whipped up a logo and some colors and a vague school/team name and concept for each addition, but the more I thought about it, that seemed to easy, too superficial. No, I wanted the entire roster customized for each team, too. That's ~80 players per team (around 9840 players, in total), with those names thematically linked to the school. The Greendale Human Beings were pretty easy to populate, and their logos aren't hard to find; ditto the Hogwarts Wizards. It started getting a little tricky with colors, both finding enough of them and deciding to only replace the last name, which I think really helps flesh them out (so you get names that teeter on the edge of plausibility: Lance Gold, Glen Salmon, Wendell Grape, Kelvin Mint, Roy Goldenrod...). For more than a few rosters I used random name generators -- some my own, some others' -- and Wikipedia gave invaluable lists of the most inane and commonplace things with which to fill the benches.

So as I began creating a pretty healthy pool of teams, trends were becoming noticeable, which is fantastic, because I'm going to have to create conferences for these guys anyway. There's more than a few comic-book-based teams, some historical people, a lot of food-related teams, even more critter-based schools...and quite a few that simply elude classification at the moment (particularly the Hanover Fists, a team of horrible puns: Terry Dactyl, Amos Quito, Rod Eale, Jerry Atrick, Dwayne Pipe...and oh, it goes on).

But I've hit a wall at 75 teams. I just got an idea the other day for a new team (Vegetative State), but I'm still fifty-odd behind where I need to be, not even counting the fact that NCAA Football 14 just came out today (and my copy hasn't been unwrapped yet), and I still can't find out how many teams have been added for this iteration.

My adaptation criteria have dried down from "Would that make a cool football team with a neat logo?" to "Is there any way I can squeeze 80+ distinct players out of this concept?" Vegetative State is not going to be a team filled with famous coma patients (I don't think there's quite broad enough of a pool to draw from, but also, ew) but people with the last names of vegetables. I'm looking forward to seeing Chad Broccoli make a drive for the Heisman.

The teams have recruiting pitches and offensive/defensive stats that are randomized, first with dice, then with my Teambuilder template built into my Rando-tools. It tends toward a bell curve, with A+ scores not possible.

So, anyway, if you have suggestions, I'm listening. And here's what I've already got:</p>

	School	Mascot	City	State	Coach	Theme	Notes
1	30th Century	Legionnaires	Metropolis	NY	RJ Brande	names of Legion of Super-Heroes members
2	Acorn University	Squirrels	Marysville	KS	Rocky Squirrel	names of squirrels
3	Alliance	Rebels	Hollywood	CA	George Lucas	random Star-Wars-esque names
4	American	Democrats	Charlotte	NC	Franklin D Roosevelt	names of prominent Democrats	FDR is pulling double-duty
5	Apple	Macs	Cupertino	CA	Steve Jobs	names of types of apple
6	Balboa	Banana Grabbers	Balboa	CA	Mitchell Hurwitz	needs one
7	Baton Rouge	Bees	Baton Rouge	LA	Brian Billick	randomly generated names with initials of BB
8	Beacon	Hats	Beacon	NY	Jervis Tetch	names of hats
9	Bovine University	Mad Cows	Columbus	OH	K Green	names of breeds of cow
10	Butterfly State	Monarchs	Coconut Creek	FL	Giacomo Puccini	names of butterflies
11	Canine University	Dogs	Atlanta	GA	Snoop Dogg	names of breeds of dog
12	Chromatic	Rainbows	Greensboro	NC	Roy G Biv	names of colors
13	COBRA	Rattlers	Springfield	MO	Cobra Commander	names of snakes
14	Cybertron	Autobots	Cybertron	CT	Sentinel Prime	names of Autobots from Transformers
15	Empirical	Scientists	Cambridge	MA	Stephen Hawking	names of famous scientists	needs diversity
16	Fabric	Fierce	High Point	NC	Melissa Leapman	names of fabric	looks awful
17	Feline University	Battle Cats	Wren	GA	Anne Hathaway	popular names of cats
18	Florida	Fish	Maitland	FL	Jacques Cousteau	names of fish
19	Fort Knox	Money	Fort Knox	KY	Ben Bernanke	names of world currencies
20	Galactic	Empire	Coruscant	NY	Darth Sidious	random stormtrooper-like names	Change school to Coruscant?
21	Galactica	Colonials	Galactica	DC	William Adama	names of Battlestar Galactica characters	needs better city
22	GI	Joes	Staten Island	NY	Larry Hama	names of GI Joes
23	Golden State	Worriers	Golden	CO	Alan Rickman	names of negative emotional states
24	Gotham City	Batmen	Gotham City	NJ	James Gordon	random names of superheroes
25	Greek	Philosophers	Athens	GA	Coach Sophocles	random Greek-esque names
26	Greendale	Human Beings	Greendale	CO	Dan Harmon	names of Community characters
27	Hanover	Fists	Hanover	KS	Roger Warren	worst pun names physically possible
28	Happy University	Smileys	Boulder	CO	Matthieu Richard	names of positive emotional states
29	Hogwarts	Wizards	Salem	MA	JK Rowling	names of Harry Potter characters
30	Ice Cream State	Ice Angels	Le Mars	IA	Blue Bunny	flavors of ice cream
31	Justice	League	Happy Harbor	RI	Barbara Gordon	names of Justice League members
32	Kansas	Thunderbirds	Topeka	KS	Tiny Moo	names derived from Kansas cities/counties	…just "Birds?"
33	Kansas City	Cheese	Kansas City	MO	Michael Palin	names of cheese
34	Kansas State	Orange Barrels*	Manhattan	KS	Kirk Schulz	names of buildings on K-State Campus	not enthused with coach
35	Kappa U Pi Delta	Sweethearts	Sheboygan	WI	Ashlee Tindleman	random sorority-girl names
36	Lompoc	Flowers	Lompoc	CA	Buddy Rose	names of flowers
37	Meat University	Sausages	Hereford	TX	Oscar Meyer	names of sausages
38	Memphis	Watchmen	Memphis	TN	Alan Moore	names of watch manufacturers
39	Mendeleev U	Elements	Oak Ridge	TN	Dmitri Mendeleev	names of elements	I didn't make this logo and I feel lazy
40	Metropolis	Supermen	Metropolis	NY	Perry White	random names of superheroes
41	Michigan	Lakes	Lake City	MI	Veronica Lake	names of largest American lakes	needs better city; better logo?
42	Microsoft	Windows	Redmond	WA	Bill Gates	names of PC manufacturers
43	Mystic Falls	Vampires	Mystic Falls	VA	Damon Salvatore	random vampirey names
44	NASA	Astronauts	Houston	TX	Gene Kranz	names of NASA astronauts -1983 roughly
45	New Orleans U	Jazz	New Orleans	LA	Frank Sinatra	names of jazz musicians	should have Louis Armstrong coach
46	New York	Avengers	New York	NY	Stan Lee	names of Avengers
47	Norwalk	Fruit	Norwalk	IA	Chiquita Banana	names of fruit
48	Oa	Green Lantern	Evergreen City	WA	Guardian Ganthet	names of Green Lantern
49	Panem	Hunger Force	Panem	CO	Suzanne Collins	random Hunger-Games-like names
50	Pasta University	Fightin Italians	Johnston	RI	Chef Boyardee	names of pasta
51	Peace University	Treehuggers	Austin	TX	Timothy Leary	random pseudo-hippie names
52	Pharmaceutical	Witch Doctors	Trenton	NJ	Gregory House	names of medications
53	Pokemon	Mudkips	Pallet Town	MT	Ash Ketchum	names of Pokemons
54	Post-Apocalyptic	Vault Boys	Los Ybanez	TX	Stan Braun	random post-apocalyptic-ish names	I don't remember why coach/location
55	Presque Isle	Lobsters	Presque Isle	ME	George Wells	names of natives of Maine
56	Reznor University	Nailers	Mercer	PA	Trent Reznor	needs one (goths?)	need to fix logo
57	Rock n Roll	Hard Rockers	Cleveland	OH	Elvis Presley	names of rock 'n roll musicians
58	Roman	Centurions	Rome	GA	Julius Caesar	random Roman-esque names
59	Russian	Unicorns	Moscow	CA	Michael Buble	random Russian names
60	Sci-Fi Writing	Classics	Vancouver	WA	CS Lewis	names of sci-fi writers	better diversity
61	Seattle	Coffee	Seattle	WA	Juan Valdez	names of types of coffee
62	Secret Society	Supervillains	San Francisco	CA	Lex Luthor	DC supervillains	new location?
63	Starfleet	Redshirts	San Francisco	CA	Zephrem Cochrane	names of Star Trek characters
64	Symphony	Band	Cleveland	OH	John P Souza	names of musical instruments
65	Toronto	Pilgrims	Toronto	CA	Bryan L Omalley	names of native Torontoans
66	Typographic	Caps	Cupertino	CA	Johannes Guterberg	names of fonts
67	Unicron	Decepticons	Kolkular	ND	Sentinel Prime	names of Decepticons from Transformers	coach: ?
68	United States	Republicans	Tampa	FL	Ronald Reagan	names of prominent Republicans
69	Vehicular	Hot Rods	Pontiac	MI	Henry Ford	makes/models of cars
70	Victorian	Footballers	Victoria	VA	Queen Victoria	random Victorian-era-esque names
71	Washington	Volcanos	St Helens	WA	David Johnston	names of volcanos	too dark?
72	White House	Presidents	Washington	DC	Franklin D Roosevelt	names of POTUS and VPOTUS	FDR is pulling double-duty
73	Winterfall	Dragon Slayers	Winterfall	MA	King Torygg	characters from Skyrim
74	Xavier Institute	Mutants	Salem Center	NY	Charles Xavier	names of X-Men and ancillary groups
75	Yoyodyne	Reds	Grovers Mills	NJ	John Worphin	names of Red Lectroids from Buckaroo Banzai
		*Not a recognized team name by in-game announcers

There is a list of 4000+ teams that the announcers will actually say during a game, and every team listed above (save the Orange Barrels) is on that list. "Green Lantern" is singular (or royal plural) for that reason. Note also that the list is old enough it doesn't reflect recent cultural shifts like the nu52, the Jean Grey school, or the advent of Snoop Lion.

Problems: FDR is the coach of the Presidents and the Democrats. Hank McCoy is both a Mutant and an Avenger. Will add to this list as I find/remember them.

Picspam, hippo birfbee part four (delayed by rain)

2013-06-25T15:58:49Z

Surprise!

No original content contained herein and no ownership implied; all material ganked from the farthest reaches of the Internets. If unsatisfied with picspam, please return unused portion of post for a full refund. Use only as directed. If symptoms persist, see a doctor. Also congrats to the Blackhawks for beating my Bruins to win the Stanley Cup. So glad I didn't go to bed after we were up by one. Am not heartbroken because, well, we won it two years ago and I don't want to be greedy. The Bruins did an exceptional job and should be proud of where they got in the condition they're in (I think Patrice Bergeron has been diagnosed with a broken everything).

Originally posted to my Dreamwidth account as LJ has been struck down by the Supreme Court by a 5-4 count. You can comment there using your LJ login as an OpenID, or here. Either's good.

Picspam, hippo birfbee edition part three

2013-06-24T22:22:38Z

No original content contained herein and no ownership implied; all material ganked from the farthest reaches of the Internets. If unsatisfied with picspam, please return unused portion of post for a full refund. Use only as directed. If symptoms persist, see a doctor. For a free written transcript, hit CTRL-P. Also, I have discovered the comic genius of Archer, which is probably my favorite show on TV now. Well, not right now or else I'd be watching it.

Originally posted to my Dreamwidth account as LJ is signing a strategic alliance with the NSA. You can comment there using your LJ login as an OpenID, or here. Either's good.

Picspam, hippo birfbee edition part two

2013-06-24T22:20:17Z

No original content contained herein and no ownership implied; all material ganked from the farthest reaches of the Internets. If unsatisfied with picspam, please return unused portion of post for a full refund. Use only as directed. If symptoms persist, see a doctor. For a free written transcript, hit CTRL-P. Bruins are down 3-2 in the Cup finals, but karma owes me one after emotionally investing in the NBA Finals *grr*.

Originally posted to my Dreamwidth account as LJ is signing a strategic alliance with the NSA. You can comment there using your LJ login as an OpenID, or here. Either's good.

Picspam, hippo birfbee edition

2013-06-24T22:18:25Z

No original content contained herein and no ownership implied; all material ganked from the farthest reaches of the Internets. If unsatisfied with picspam, please return unused portion of post for a full refund. Use only as directed. If symptoms persist, see a doctor. For a free written transcript, hit CTRL-P. I'll bet you thought I'd died or something, didn't you?

Originally posted to my Dreamwidth account as LJ is en route to Havana (psych!). You can comment there using your LJ login as an OpenID, or here. Either's good.