Creationists say the darndest things!

From Daily Kos

Golden Gould Awards for 2005

10. I know you think you have fossils that proof stuff, but those fossils are all fake, they're made out of tar and stuff, this is fact not theory. They have factories in China mostly making the fossils.

9. If people came from monkeys, why are there still people?

8. If the strata layers were true, the missing links would be the dinosaurs because they came way before other evolutionary stages. But no, we are finding dinosaur bones left and right. We have over 35 kinds of dinosaurs and we have more than one for each. Is that a problem. How long have they been digging now?

7. then perhaps you can explain how A fish crawled out of the sea and evolved into a mammal with lungs without dying before he evolved. You scientists make up something to explain all of your theories without ANY proof. You are fools living a lie. And being as Satan is the father of lies, he is your master. Turn or Burn boys!

6. hey, i get so confused when i hear about all this evolution nonsense. was it once upon a time,lifeless matter came to life. became a mything link. then a boy.or was it.once upon a time, a lifeless chunk of wood came to life.became a talking puppet.then a boy. please clear up my confusion.....yo momma

5. DS I'm hoping you won't be like the others and we can have a nice two-way discussion were we each listen to the other persons. As long as you understand that evolutionists have no proof and just the tail on an amoeba is proof of intelligent design and that's my view and I don't really care to read yours.

4. Evolution? Isn't that what Osama ben Laden believes in? Isn't that what the Taliban teaches in their madroseos? Nice company you keep, terrorist.

3. You have to ask yourself though, why are evolutionists so vile and disgusting and rude and why are scientists like DR Hovin so polite and courteous? [What makes this e-mail ironic and worthy of nomination is that just a few hours after I opened it I received an unsolicited Instant Message which read in part] "You baby-killers make me sick with your slime are poeple bullshit and your jew teachers telling our kids they're nothing but monkeys. I know you're all gonna brn in jew hell but I hope first we round you pigs up and execute you first, s lowly and painfully.

2. Most mammals contain DNA similaities because mammals eat other mammals.

( IMHO, our winner from 2004 deserves a renomination, below: )

Goddamnit!

One of my favorite radio stations, Channel 104.9 FM, changed format on New Year's Day. In place of a very good alternative rock station we now have yet another Spanish-language station playing Mexican love songs 24-7. That make seven in the Valley alone.

What really pisses me off is that there was no warning. At least when KSJO changed from being the great station it was to yet another Spanish-language station playing Mexican love songs 24-7, they told us in advance and had a going away party.

Now, I love KFOG, but that's mainly for the morning show. Their play list is little to focused on older stuff, and a bit on the soft side for me. 107.7 The Bone is good for hard rock, but it's also focused on older stuff. I may be pushing 40, but I like bands like Jimmy Eat World, Franz Ferdinand, and Modest Mouse.

Screw it. I'm programing my truck radio with KPIG's AM station and listening to them until they sell out and become yet another Spanish-language station playing Mexican love songs 24-7.

In accordance with one of my resolutions..

I am really determined to get a face-to-face game going. It would be on Sundays (since that's my one sure day off,) and probably run twice a month.

Since I'm currently writing a science-fiction setting, I'm contemplating doing fantasy, which I haven't done in a long time. A little sword & sorcery would be good for me, I think, and doing two dissimilar things at once seems to really help my writing. I've mentioned some campaign ideas in the past, but will present a few here and then ask people who are interested in playing to fill out a short poll.

Note: While I appreciate that people outside the area might have an opinion on the subject, I'm going to use this poll to determine what I'm going to do with some substantial blocks of time and money. So, please, if you are not going to consider playing in this game, or are not local enough to realistically take part in a once a fortnight game in Santa Clara County, do not fill out the poll. Feel free to comment or suggest in comments about my ideas or systems. Thanks.

For systems, I'm really becoming attracted to doing an Ars Magica 5th Edition game. (Or possibly 4th Edition, which is available as a free download from rpgnow.com). Ars (or AM to its many fans) is a well written game that makes magic magical again. Wizards spend most of their time in chantries, doing research and collecting the various things they need to advance their work. On occasion, they have to head out and take care of some task.

AM is notable for its use of troupe play. In this style of gaming, each player controls several characters. Traditionally, each player controls a Mage, one or two Companions (a highly skilled non-Mage attached to the chantry. A Knight-Errant, an alchemist, a friar or priest.. someone highly skilled or useful), and several Grogs... these are the extras. The low level guards, chantry maids, stable master, cook.. all the people needed to allow the pointy-hat and robe set to do their work in peace. In play the general rule is that one player runs his/her Mage, the rest play Companions, and everyone runs a couple of Grogs. This allows the players to stack their party for the mission. For example, if the chantry needs to investigate reports of a werewolf plaguing a village, sending a mage skilled in animal spells and a good huntsman would make sense. On the other hand, gathering the needed supplies for repairs after a storm would make an interesting all-Grog adventure!

In my experience, this style encourages good role-play and excellent character designs, especially when it comes to Companions. Why is this Knight living with a bunch of mages? Why does the cook hate the stable master? I've been at games where a player carried on an extended argument with himself between two characters he was running. Having each player play a mage with a different specialty means that no matter what the scenario, someone will have the proper magical talent. Having everyone in the game communicate during the generation process is also vital (the Knight is the older brother of one of mages; despite her ability to set fires with a wave of her hand, he still thinks she needs to be protected...)

The system itself is pretty simple. I encourage people to download the free version and take a look.

The other option is GURPS. Which I've gone on about at length before. The drawback is that troupe play would be nearly impossible ( I shudder at trying to design 5-7 characters for a game, even if half of them are going to be 50 points at best.)

As for setting, I'm pulled in three directions.

I have my half-formed (or baked) Thousand Isles campaign. But it's a little too swashbuckler for the kind of game I'm thinking of.

Then there's Harn (Sorry, can't figure out how to get that little mark over the "a".) Harn is one of the great fantasy worlds out there, rich in detail and low-magic by default (which actually works with the cloistered mages of AM). I own a metric shitload of Harn stuff already.. I'd just need to find it all!

Lastly, there's my favorite "real world" setting: Eastern Europe. AM assumes a start date of 1241CE, which is a very interesting time to be in Poland or points East. The Russian steppes are still mostly tribal, with Norse-founded river cities just beginning to grow into principalities. Most of the country is still wild and Slavic bands raid each other (and the river traffic) for the supplies needed to last out the long winter. Christianity is a fairly recent innovation in many areas. And then you've got those reports of warriors in the far east, who are said to be half-man, half-horse, and to eat the flesh of their enemies...

So, we come to the poll. Again, this is intended to gage what people who can actually come to a face-to-face game are interested in. While I'm quite aware of play-by-IRC and such, I want to sit down at a table with real people and socialize while gaming.

[Poll #644970]