Cory Doctorow in a world of Shakespeares

I write like
Cory Doctorow

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

...except when I don't. 

Last week I saw this doo-dad making the rounds in some of the blogs I follow.  My buddy Pat pointed it out to me a couple weeks ago.  Poor bastard writes like Dan Brown according to iwl.me's widget.  The thing is, I don't know what text he used.  I got Cory Doctorow as my result when I fed in my review of the Wraeththu rpg.  But this post about morale apparently reads more like Chuck Palahniuk.  And my OD&D module is in the vein of H.P. Lovecraft, while my little essay 'On System' apparently leans towards P.G. Wodehouse.  I always thought I wrote like a love child of Douglas Adams and S. John Ross that had been dropped on his head as an infant, but what do I know?

Gutenberg.org makes this game super-easy to play with various dead writers.  Hamlet, it turns out, sounds quite a bit like the works of William Shakespeare.  So does Act 1, Scene 1 of Vortigern, a hoax once passed off as a work by old Willy.  But then Samuel Butler's prose translation of Homer also sounds like Shakespeare.  Kit Marlowe's Faustus (the 1616 verson) also sounds like Shakespeare according to this widget.  So does Keats' unfinished play King Stephen.  Now I'm starting to get pissed off.  Who doesn't sound like Shakespeare to this machine?  A random chunk of The Faerie Queen?  Shakespeare.  Some William Blake poetry?  Fucking Shakespeare!  Chaucer's Wife of Bath?  William goddamn Shakespeare!!!

What the fuck?!  I write like four different dudes but all these guys are William Shakespeare?  I'm honestly a little afraid to put some Emily Dickinson into the box.  If it came out Shakespeare I would probably go on a homicidal rampage.

I love toys like this

Scott Pilgrim avatar creator, found via Comics Alliance

ridiculous quiz results time!

I came across this quiz over at Dungeoneering Dad.



You are a d8: You are the true adventurer! Dragons rescued, princesses slayed, and all that business while O Fortuna plays in the background. Your social calender is crammed with heroic deeds, and you've personally saved the world from ultimate destruction at least twice. You are reliable, perhaps a bit predictable, but overall a shining example of what happens when courage meets determination.

Take the quiz at dicepool.com

I'm not exactly sure what this is

Your BrainHex Class is Seeker.

Your BrainHex Sub-Class is Seeker-Conqueror.

You like finding strange and wonderful things or finding familiar things as well as defeating impossibly difficult foes, struggling until you eventually achieve victory, and beating other players.

According to your results, there are few play experiences that you strongly dislike.

Learn more about your classes and exceptions at BrainHex.com.

Your scores for each of the classes in this test were as follows:

Seeker: 19
Conqueror: 16
Survivor: 12
Achiever: 7
Mastermind: 7
Daredevil: 6
Socialiser: 3

Go to BrainHex.com to learn more about this player model, and the neurobiological research behind it.

By Thrazar's Katzbalger!

So here's a fun little toy I found via a link on my buddy's blog. It takes a text input (a name) and puts it through mathemagraphical transmogrifications to turn it into some sort of fantastic weapon. For example, I type 'Thrazar' and got this:


A katzbalger is obviously a blade of some sort but I had to look it up on the Wikipedia to find out more.

fra-gee-lay

So while I've been busy with holiday season stuff James "the Commish" Mishler of Adventures in Gaming has seen fit to give me a major award!



Oops! Wrong image. This is the award he actually gave me:


Per the rules of this game I must now share the love with five others deserving of recognition.

Stuart's Neitherworld Stories is a very cool blog. I know him personally and he's also a really nice guy.

The RPG Pundit is an ornery cuss, but a very insightful and entertaining one.

Berin Kinsmen, a.k.a. Uncle Bear, deserves some sort of award just for being able to keep up such an awesome stream of content for as long as he has. Rock, rock on!

Levi Kornelsen is the coolest dude in indie gaming.

Edsan runs the coolest Mutant Future/Empire of the Petal Throne blog on the planet.

The Fine Print:

• Each Superior Scribbler must in turn pass The Award on to 5 most-deserving Bloggy Friends.


• Each Superior Scribbler must link to the author & the name of the blog from whom he/she has received The Award.


• Each Superior Scribbler must display The Award on his/her blog, and link to This Post, which explains The Award.


• Each Blogger who wins The Superior Scribbler Award must visit this post and add his/her name to the Mr. Linky List. That way, we'll be able to keep up-to-date on everyone who receives This Prestigious Honor!


• Each Superior Scribbler must post these rules on his/her blog.

Sunday funnies

From today's installment of Stephan Pastis' Pearls Before Swine.

Bring 'em on!

16
-by way of Jonathan at the Core Mechanic

The vegetable bowls the assembled adjective.

Here's a fun and easy meme-thing from my pal Intruder_W:

1. Get a randomly generated sentence from here.
2. Copy and paste the sentence into the "title" field here.
3. You made an art! Post it to your liveblogjournal doo-hickey and please leave a link in the comments section.

Concept Album meme

From coeli

01. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first article title on the page is the name of your band.
02. http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four words of the very last quote is the title of your album.
03. http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/ The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.
04. Use your graphics program of choice to throw them together, and post the result as a comment in this post. Also, pass it along in your own journal because it's more amusing that way.

Levi is being Levi again...

...exploring the interface between internets technology and traditional RPG play. His latest project is dragonish rpg deal called Hoard. I'm not sure I want to follow him down that particular rabbit hole, but I'm a sucker for stupid quizzes with bloggy thing-a-ma-bobs.

Want your own dragon?

I am a rock n roll cave ape!

EDIT: That is weird. In preview mode this widget told me my rockstar name was "Simian". Now the title of my post makes no sense.

Via Phil Looney. Get your own here.

The Galaxy Game

Here's a fun thing to do inspired by my recent reading of the new Star Wars rpg and re-reading of Encounter Critical.

1) Google up a good "overhead" view of a galaxy. Something like this, this, or this.

2) Swipe that pic and open it up in a paint program. Any paint program will do, including MS Paint, which I'm using for my example.

3) Draw some squiggly freehand lines all over the map in some garish color. Don't get too out of control here. You want maybe 10 to 20 discrete areas on the map when you're done.

4) Type a number or letter into each area.

5) Create a key giving some sort of nifty label to each area of your galaxy.

6) Share the picture and key to your own custom galaxy! Like this:

A- Starclusters of the Exiloids
B- Unincorporated Worlds (per 3rd Treaty of Arethon IV)
C- Reorganized Methanic Empire
D- The Multitude of Microstates (all 10,000 planets or less)
E- Realm of the Cosmokhan
F- Barbarian States (overrun Imperial Methanic colonies)
G- Territory of the Transentient Energy Field
H- Omniprosperity League
I- Unrestricted Trade Region (a vast warzone)
J- Robo-Sun Collective
K- Alliance of Unaligned Nonallies (the name makes more sense in the original Drakthani)
L- Tricameral Sophont Pact
M- The Ruined Worlds
N- Transgalactic Colonies of Humanity
O- Hyperclone Dominion
P- There be dragons here.
Q- Also unexplored.
R- Original Methanic Empire

7) Next time your players ask to see your campaign map, hand them a printout of your galaxy!

Extra credit for Traveller fans: Overlay an 8 x 10 numbered hex grid on your map and develop a Universal Galactic Profile system that allows you to provide useful information for each hex. Keep in mind that the 3rd Imperium and all its neighbors comfortably fit in a single galactic hexagon with lots of room to spare.

I smelled Chuck Norris because the voices told me to

I don't normally even bother to open stupid chain letter email, but this one is kinda fun, so I reworked it as a stupid blog meme:

Fwd: I smelled a noodle because I'm sexy and I do what I want.
Fwd: I yelled at my science teacher because I'm sexy and I do what I want.
Subject: I ran over a stuffed animal because Big Bird said to and he's my leader

Work the 3 tables below, then: type out the sentence you end up with in the subject line of a blog post and copy this text. Also, link back to the blog you read it on. DON'T LEAVE ME HANGING ALONE!

Pick the month you were born:
January-------I kicked
February-----I loved
March--------I karate chopped
April----------I licked
May---------- I jumped on
June---------- I smelled
July-----------I did the Macarena With
August-------I had lunch with
September---I danced with
October------I sang to
November----I yelled at
December----I ran over

Pick the day (number) you were born on:

1-------a birdbath
2-------a monster
3-------a phone
4-------a fork
5-------a snowman
6-------a gangster
7-------my cell phone
8-------my dog
9-------my best friends' boyfriend
10-------my neighbor
11---- ---my science teacher
12-------a banana
13-------a fireman
14-------a stuffe d animal
15-------a goat
16-------a pickle
17-------your mom
18---- ---a spoon
19------- a smurf
20-------a baseball bat
21-------a ninja
22-------Chuck Norris
23-------a noodle
24-------a squirrel
25-------a football player
26-------my sister
27-------my brother
28-------an ipod
29-------a surfer
30-------a llama
31-------A homeless guy

Pick the color of shirt you are wearing:
White---------because I'm cool like that
Black---------because that's how I roll.
Pink----------because I'm NOT crazy.
Red-----------because the voices told me to
Blue----------because I'm sexy and I do what I want.
Green---------because I think I need some serious help.
Purple--------because I'm AWESOME!
Gray----------because Big Bird said to and he's my leader.
Yellow--------because someone offered me 1 ,000,000 dollars
Orange --------because my family thinks I'm stupid anyway.
Brown ---------because I can.
Other---------because I'm a Ninja !
None----------because I can't control myself.

Now type out the sentence you made and put in your subject line and copy the text of this post.

Don't forget to link back to the person that tagged you!

this is cool

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Lord Jeffrey the Unhyphenated of Much Bottom Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Thanks, Kathleen!

I can't make up my mind whether it is worth the trouble I'll get to address my wife as Lady Much Bottom next time I see her.