500+ Words About...

...Removing the Money from Politics On this Leap Day, the United States is in the midst of spending billions of dollars to decide who runs this country for the next four years. Needless to say, this is a big business. However, the power that comes with being in charge is even bigger business, so those who put the billions in are doing it to make tens or hundreds of times as much.  What people see is the initial movement of this political process. They see that some group hires a lobbyist who spends their money to get a politician elected, who then passes (or blocks) legislation to help the lobbyists' causes. This makes the politician worth supporting further, which perpetuates the cycle.  So what do we do about it? After all, we seem to have the proverbial perpetual motion machine here: The money from the lobbyist passes to the politician, who then uses the government to refill the spigot of the cause who hired the lobbyist in the first place. But the key to all this motion is...

 ...Tonight's Season Premiere of Survivor Every season of Survivor  (USA) is quite different. There are twists and turns, and the producers try to introduce new things to keep people on their toes. But the main difference each season is the contestants and how they interact with one another. I have seen the early interviews of each contestant prior to this first episode, and it's obvious that the producers cast the most unique cast of at least the modern (i.e. post-pandemic) era, and quite possibly of all time. Each has a unique path for what made them apply in the first place, and now they are being thrown together to see what's up. I will not name names, but here is a sample of some of who we have playing: A man whose house was raided by police at a very young age and realized at that moment that he might have rely on himself to survive. A man whose family encouraged him to apply but is so convinced he's going to be the first person voted out that they're throwing...

 ...Walking through Spell Design I would like to take this time to walk through the how the Torg Eternity spell design looks today with examples of how current spells would appear as "on the fly" designs with explanations of the entries. To recall, an "on the fly" spell design takes the important aspects of the spell and divides them among the four magic skills. Each one would then be put into a Dramatic Skill Resolution and played out. When doing deliberate spell design, the process is done in a controlled setting over time, so each step would have effectively unlimited attempts at them. But what a deliberate spell design wants to do is create a new spell to add to the caster's repertoire, and what it values is balancing the amount of time spent working on the design with the final Difficulty Number of the spell. So a casting effectively repeats all the steps into one casting action, so counts as a Multi-Action on the four skills using the main skill for that s...

...One small investment for me... One of the things about writing is that things need to be comfortable. Another is that it should be practical to the situation. at hand. So as I'm concerned, a small investment is likely to yield large results. What is this small investment, and why does it matter? The investment is a wireless combo keyboard and mouse. I've had wireless keyboards before, and wireless mouse technology, but the advantage of this is both work with the same USB plug. With only two USB ports in my current computer, that's a major improvement.  This means I am able (if I wish) to operate keyboard, mouse, and something else. The "something else' is always something rare, but when needed, it's great to have. Also, with both keyboard and mouse combined and wireless, it means I do not have to keep the actual laptop near me to type. This means I can keep the laptop at eye level while typing and moving the mouse at a lower level where my hands are effectiv...

 ..."Looking At" vs. "Looking Along" C. S, Lewis wrote many things in an attempt to explain Christianity as he knew it. One such writing was an essay called. "Mediation in a Toolshed" for which  an excellent video  has been made. It highlights an imbalance in our thinking that has only gotten worse over time. The essay begins by noticing that while in a dark toolshed, a sunbeam had through a crack at the top of the door. He was able to see the beam, with dust floating in it, and it seemed to be the only thing there. But when he stepped into it, all that vanished and he saw outside the leaves, the sky, and the sun that had produced the beam.  The first observation was him looking at  the beam, while the second observation was him looking along  the beam. One gives an outside account, while the other gives the inside participatory account. Other examples he gave are the person falling in love vs. a scientist measuring the physical reactions of the lover, o...

...Black YouTubers Supporting Donald Trump Yes, this is a real thing. No, not every black YouTuber is supporting Donald Trump. But given the near monopoly that the Democrats have had in recent years over the black vote, this trend is noteworthy. I have listened to some of these, particularly for the reasoning being employed. I will give two such reasons here. Donald Trump: the Persecuted Within a single month, two courtrooms in New York have slapped insane fines on the former President totaling over $400 million. One is over a sexual assault charge that was so old the New York legislature had to alter the statute of limitations to be able to bring it up. The other is against his business enterprise, claiming it defrauded banks in the way it obtained bank loans, but managed somehow to get the State of New York to file as the aggrieved party. In both these cases, the demand for the money is being made immediately—no chance to delay the payment by appeal. So even if an appellate court doe...