Shiny Things

What Good Is It?

2012-09-29T17:08:46Z

Some of the commenters on this video asked why anyone would waste 600 hours creating such a thing:

But 5,173,197 people spent 7 minutes each watching it. Just counting the 43,189 people that liked it, he created 5039 hours of enjoyment. That's an 840% return on investment. I think any creation that gets even a 1 for 1 return of enjoyment time for work time is a success.

The Last Safe Investment

2012-09-28T10:24:31Z

I remember thinking when the real estate bubble crashed that home mortgages had always been touted as a safe investment, but human nature being what it is, that system had been exploited to the point of unsustainability. And the only "safe investment" remaining was the student loan, sold on the basis that it increased your earning potential and thus was sure to pay for itself. It seemed obvious to me at the time that it was only a matter of time before a financial bubble was built around that idea as well, and that it had probably started already. Here's more evidence that the student loan bubble is getting ready to burst:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/09/27/nyu-professor-are-student-loans-immoral.html

I used to hear people say, "If you think education is expensive, try ignorance." We can't afford ignorance. A well-educated populace is critical to the operation of a democracy. In a political season where blatant lies that can be dispelled in a few moments of fact checking are paraded as truth, that's increasingly obvious as well. But if we don't do something about the cost of education, about making sure our people can afford to be as smart as we can make them, we will be trapped not just in our own ignorance but that of our neighbors as well.

Reaction!: 3D Printing Plastic Records

2012-09-10T14:34:34Z

I had one of these Fisher-Price record players, and I loved it. When (not if) I get a 3D printer, I will have to track one down. I hope there are lots of downloadable files for these records by then.

3D Printing Plastic Records

Basic Instructions: Why I Make a Point of Telling People That I Don't Like Sports

2012-08-29T11:34:49Z

Yes. Exactly.

Why I Make a Point of Telling People That I Don't Like Sports

Raptitude.com: The body is in charge, and won’t let you forget it for long

2012-08-20T21:09:58Z

This seemed especially insightful to me today, when I'm sleep-deprived from Gen Con.

The body is in charge, and won’t let you forget it for long

Not Just for Dessert

2012-08-20T15:03:30Z

11am.
Carl: Are those cookies you're eating a late breakfast or an early lunch?
Colleague: Breakfast. They're oatmeal.

Getting Up Earlier

2012-08-11T11:01:47Z

On weekdays, my alarm goes off at 4:51am. That gives me a snooze cycle to get one last snuggle in (or two or three, depending on how many times I hit the button) before I get up for my favorite part of the day.

The Happiness Project: Try Getting Up Earlier

I try to reserve this time for the projects I want to work on, usually game design. Sometimes I think I need to use this time for something else, but that's usually a mistake, and my mood suffers for it the rest of the day. Sometimes I stay up too late (my target bedtime is 10pm but I'm usually not asleep until much closer to 11) and I know I'll be tired the next day, but I still want to get up around 5am. It's my time to be me, before I have to do what everyone else needs me to do.

I Love XKCD (boom de yada, boom de yada...)

2012-08-11T09:53:40Z

I finally picked up the XKCD: Volume 0 book (my Amazon order was $5 short of free shipping so I threw it in the cart), which is pretty awesome, and found the following comment on this comic:

"To everyone who did YouTube covers of this, I love you all."

So of course I had to go find some.

Gizmodo: Is This the Best or the Most Evil Parenting Trick Ever?

2012-08-09T02:46:27Z

Some days, this is very tempting. I may yet have to try it on the youngest.

Is This the Best or the Most Evil Parenting Trick Ever? [Internet]

However, when it's already a question of whether or not to obediently do the work assigned to you, there's a certain contrary motivation that's likely to make the kid say, "Screw this, if work is just the price of using the internet, I can do without the internet." Karen and I both remember being told to make our beds before we could watch cartoons on Saturday mornings (wow, I just dated us: sorry, dear), and sitting on our beds for hours rather than taking a few minutes to comply. Our motivations mystify me sometimes.

Good News Network: Science Shows Smiling is Helpful When You're Stressed - Even if You Fake it

2012-08-09T02:41:06Z

I've experimented with this myself, in traffic. It does seem to help.

Science Shows Smiling is Helpful When You're Stressed - Even if You Fake it

Good News Network - Most Popular: Creative Humans Help Mama Bear with Dumpster Dilemma (Top Videos)

2012-08-05T03:22:20Z

This was nice.

Creative Humans Help Mama Bear with Dumpster Dilemma (Top Videos)

PsyBlog: Why Society Doesn’t Change: The System Justification Bias

2012-08-05T03:17:38Z

This is kind of depressing, but I think it's important to understand.

Why Society Doesn’t Change: The System Justification Bias

15 Travel Tips

2012-08-01T02:28:17Z

Some interesting tips here. I like the tip about not eating at corner restaurants. I can attest to the value of _not_ carrying a big expensive camera, after mine was soaked in orange juice at the bottom of my backpack. And my personal recollections of eating Chinese food in Paris, Greek and Goan food in London, and the most amazing peach I ever tasted (from a farmers' market in Aix en Provence) confirm a couple of the other tips.

Thrilling and Amazing Travel Tips!

(via the Etre newsletter)

PsyBlog: The Incubation Effect: How to Break Through a Mental Block

2012-07-25T17:19:34Z

I knew that taking a break was helpful to breaking through a creative block, and I suspected that you had to be aware of the problem while taking the break. But I hadn't heard that a 30-minute break was as good as or better than a 24-hour break.

The Incubation Effect: How to Break Through a Mental Block

What If?: A Mole of Moles

2012-07-24T12:43:56Z

I love funny science.

A Mole of Moles

Raptitude.com: What you want is never a thing

2012-07-23T12:40:10Z

I really like this guy's blog. There's some wise thinking going on there.

What you want is never a thing

"All we ever seek, and all we ever avoid are feelings. Feelings run the world. They constitute the only useful product of all material transactions between humans and their environment. Just like your body can’t use the food it eats for energy until it’s turned to glucose, we can’t really make use of the things we seek until they deliver certain feelings. Feelings are the currency of human experience. They are the only real incentive."

Sleep Like the Dead

2012-07-22T15:40:16Z

I found this website while looking for a better mattress solution for our bed. It seems to have a lot of useful and unbiased information on a topic that a lot of people have trouble with but don't know what to do about. I'm linking to the About page rather than the main page for the site, because I think the reasons why the founder put the it together are interesting and compelling.

http://www.sleeplikethedead.com/about-sleeplikethedead.html

Futility Closet: Heat and Light

2012-07-15T03:07:49Z

This seems to me rather profound and worth remembering. And it reminds me to never post angry.

Heat and Light

Bark Like A Fish, Damnit!: Annotated Fairy Tale: Hog Bridegroom

2012-07-14T19:28:52Z

I love it when she does these. I laughed until I cried. And I learned something about pigs.

Annotated Fairy Tale: Hog Bridegroom

Link Banana: Happiness is a Glass Half Empty

2012-06-22T12:57:52Z

Positive thinking can sabotage you. Failure is more frequent than we want to believe, but almost never as bad as we fear, and helps us grow. And I really wish I had time to see the Museum of Failed Products when I go to Ann Arbor for Protospiel next month.

Happiness is a Glass Half Empty (via Link Banana)

(But man, am I sick of that "half empty / half full" metaphor. I really think people's selection is more based off of typical word usage than a tendency toward pessimism or optimism. And I prefer the engineering answer: "The glass is too big.")

Pixar Story Rules

2012-06-16T17:37:09Z

I love the insights here, and want to make sure I can find them again to come back to: Pixar Story Rules. (Thanks, Karen!)

Here's the complete list in case the link ever goes dead:

#1: You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.

#2: You gotta keep in mind what’s interesting to you as an audience, not what’s fun to do as a writer. They can be v. different.

#3: Trying for theme is important, but you won’t see what the story is actually about til you’re at the end of it. Now rewrite.

#4: Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.

#5: Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours. You’ll feel like you’re losing valuable stuff but it sets you free.

#6: What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?

#7: Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front.

#8: Finish your story, let go even if it’s not perfect. In an ideal world you have both, but move on. Do better next time.

#9: When you’re stuck, make a list of what WOULDN’T happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up.

#10: Pull apart the stories you like. What you like in them is a part of you; you’ve got to recognize it before you can use it.

#11: Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a perfect idea, you’ll never share it with anyone.

#12: Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th – get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself.

#13: Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likable to you as you write, but it’s poison to the audience.

#14: Why must you tell THIS story? What’s the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? That’s the heart of it.

#15: If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty lends credibility to unbelievable situations.

#16: What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What happens if they don’t succeed? Stack the odds against.

#17: No work is ever wasted. If it’s not working, let go and move on - it’ll come back around to be useful later.

#18: You have to know yourself: the difference between doing your best & fussing. Story is testing, not refining.

#19: Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.

#20: Exercise: take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How d’you rearrange them into what you DO like?

#21: You gotta identify with your situation/characters, can’t just write ‘cool’. What would make YOU act that way?

#22: What’s the essence of your story? Most economical telling of it? If you know that, you can build out from there.

ayvalentine.com: Ray Bradbury on Writing

2012-06-07T12:36:05Z

I liked this quote.

Ray Bradbury on Writing

I'm not like this with writing, but I'm like it with games. I need to work on them every day, even when they're going badly (maybe even especially when they are going badly). On days I don't work on games I'm more sullen, more grumpy, and just less pleasant to be around. It feels like a pressure buildup. Some days I really wonder why I do it, why I put myself through it, why I drag my best friends through yet another playtest of the latest dumb thing I've been working on. But for right now, it just feels like something I need to do.

Protospiel Panel at Gen Con 2011

2012-06-07T03:05:33Z

Last year at Gen Con I organized a panel about Protospiel. I was asked to record it for a number of people who could not attend. Nearly a year later, I finally got the video uploaded to YouTube:

Derek Sivers: Smart people don't think others are stupid

2012-05-17T13:36:26Z

I think this is a great attitude to try to hold onto. Too many times when we disagree with people, especially over emotionally-charged issues, it's too easy to assume it's because they're stupid. In my experience, it's more often because they have different priorities.

Smart people don't think others are stupid

David Whitcher's _Tahiti_

2012-05-17T12:34:14Z

Minion Games has a Kickstarter campaign to publish David Whitcher's _Tahiti_. David is the organizer of Protospiel, and I've playtested the game there: it's a fun game of exploring, picking up stuff, and delivering it back home. The artwork looks lovely, and in my experience Minion makes games with good quality components. I'm eager to get my hands on this.