Category: Uncategorized

Vitaly Friedman has compiled a list of 20 License-Free Fonts (that’s free). Fonts are one of those beautiful things that no one pays attention to, at least until you get that invitation made in Kidnap or something. Pretty good list; I especially like Pigiarniq and JustOldFashion.

Link [via mezzoblue]

I’m going to stop apologizing for it and just give into the farce that has become Jack Thompson. (Note to certain readers, it must be something about the last name.)

Jack has now faxed a letter to the Seattle PD (where PA is located) asking that the authors of PA, Gabe and Tycho, be arrested. Of course, he got their website wrong, but that doesn’t detract from the fun language and defamation suit he brought on himself. He accuses PA of extortion and criminal harassment, both of which I’m pretty sure require evidence in order to prosecute.

Jack, you have made yourself a public figure and, as such, are open to a whole level of mockery and satire the likes of which you obviously are unable to deal with. “I Hate Jack Thompson” T-shirts are not harassment, they’re hella-funny. I highly recommend you crawl back under a rock and bother us no more. Cops are smarter than you pathetic, emotional pleas and insinuations. They’re not dumb enough to arrest people who donate money to sick kids in the name of the person falsely accusing them of crimes.

gamepolitics: BREAKING NEWS: Will Seattle’s Finest Be Raiding Penny Arcade?

Orson Scott Card’s webzine, Intergalatic Medicine Show, is up. Each issue costs $2.50 and Card has on the front page that he’ll publish a new story in Ender’s world every month (what’s that little tickle in the back of my mind?).

Ender’s Game is one of the best sf stories around and Card is quite a character.

[via Sci-Fi Storm]

IGMS

I don’t know what gets this guy under my skin and, yes, I’m playing right into his sick need for attention, but I got drop one last post about this twit.

Not only does he whelch on charities, but others have to make up for him. The guys at Penny Arcade have donated $10,000 to The Entertainment Software Association Foundation in Jack’s name.

Jack, as he will remind you, is a lawyer and, as such, likes to make wild, legal-sounding threats. See the Penny Arcade link above as well as this page over at VG Cats.

And the worst part, people like my folks don’t hear this side of the story. Will someone from a responsbile news orginization (not C|Net) pick this up and wipe Jack Thompson off the map? Please? There are people doing far worse damage to society, and we really need to get back to them.

Following up on this post, Jack Thompson, lawyer, psychic, and now, apparently, back-peddling fool has rescinded his offer of $10,000 to charity if someone built his proposed violent video game. Why? Because someone did it. Jack now claims, in totally lawyerly fashion, that his original offer was satire. Unfortunately, we know that’s not true as Jack can’t actually identify satire, based on his reaction to the produced mod of GTA:SA where you can play as Jack Thompson.

So, either one of two things occurred here. Either Thompson’s original piece was satire and he never intended to donate money to charity or he’s lying now to get out of donating the money to charity. We await his explanation soon.

Every brewer has the passion for a good beer. I’m attempting to pose as a brewer, so why not take on some accoutrement? With that, I begin the Beer of the Moment segment (with a Beer category), wherein I gush about the beer that I have currently fallen for and avoid committments to some “of the $TIMESEGMENT” titling.

This edition of Beer of the Moment (or BotM, since everything deserves an acronym) is Great Lakes Brewing Company’s Dortmunder Gold. Dortmunder is a Golden Lager (according to the label) brewed in the style of the town of Dortmund, Germany.

Vitals

• ABV: 5.8%
• ABW: 4.3%
• IBU: 30

(Ratebeer page)

Reading the Ratebeer page makes you think you have try to like this beer, which is like saying you need to work up to sweet chocolate. Sure, you might have to if you come from the dark chocolate world, but most don’t. The beer is a dark straw color; it reminds me of a dark Scotch. There is very little head, but a medium body. I expected something much heavier.

It smells slightly fruity, but I don’t detect the cinnamon that some claim to smell. It’s medium thickness in the mouth lingers after you swallow, but not in an unpleasant way. This is currently my favorite lager and something I have already bought two 6-packs of, which is saying something. I like IPAs, so this lager was a refreshing change. I highly recommend this beer.

Side note, on the same trip I also got a single (thankfully) of Founder’s Devil Dancer IPA. Wow. Way over the top. 13% ABV, 200+ IBUs, thick as soup. I love Founder’s Red’s Rye, I’ll even drink a Dirty Bastard now and then, but I couldn’t like this one. Sometimes I think they make this kind of thing just so people can brag that they like it.

Anyway, go get the Dotmunder and have some chicken wings; I personally vouch for the combo.

Not quite, but this guy did it for $126. Not bad

Link [via digg]

It took about 2 days, but Engaget has alread posted a HOWTO on how to your movies onto an iPod with video.

Link

For those that don’t know, Jack Thompson (notice the subtle URL) is the lawyer-cum-vigilante who is trying to make himself the face of the anti-video game movement. He gushes over these idiot laws over video games passed all over the country. (Side note to our Governor, Jennifer Granholm; you lost my vote.) He’s basically the latest incarnation of the hysterical crowd that first blamed music, then blamed movies, and are now blaming video games for people’s lack of responsibility. His equation usually goes like this: innocent child (think teddy bears and butterflies) plays big, bad video game, the goes on a Natural Born Killers-style rampage, slaughtering person, beast, and plant.

According to his website (see subtle URL above), he’s also a psychic. He predicted “…in an interview by Matt Lauer on NBC’s Today show three weeks before the Beltway Snipers were apprehended, that one of the snipers “might very well be a video gamer as young as 15 trained on a game switched to sniper-mode or God-mode.” Nevermind that he says this about every crime spree to anyone who will listen; luck often favors the undeserving. Hell, even John Edwards gets one right once in a while.

The fact is Jack Thompson is not a psychologist, he’s not a doctor, he’s a lawyer and has much to gain from his notoriety. He conveniently ignores statistics that refute his claims and uses straw man tactics in his attempt to make a point. Oh, by the way, good luck to Mr. Thompson on his case in the Grand Theft Auto murder case; that guy got convicted because he’s a murderer, not mentally deficient.

Which brings us to Penny Arcade. Gabe and Tycho, the two proprietors of Penny Arcade, are about the most generous gamers you can find. They have donated about half a million dollars through their charity, all raised through grassroots efforts among gamers. Jack Thompson, as far as I know, has offered ten grand and donated none. They sent him an email (scroll down) with their phone number on it. Jack called them (article). I’m not exactly sure what law you sue someone under for emailing you, but if Jack can figure it out, I have about (counting…. ) 45 spammers I’d like to contact.

Jack Thomson is so bad at spreading the word about violent video games, even the people he’s quoting are asking him to stop using their names. As the Dutch would say: Als alle gekken konden vliegen hadden we een permanente zonsverduistering – If all fools could fly, the sun would be eclipsed forever.

May Jack drift into irrelevance as quickly as New Coke.

Once again, comment/trackback spammers have blasted this site. It’s taken me the better part of an hour to change the settings for Movable Type.

For the foreseeable future, comments are for registered commenters only and trackbacks are off. If you have a comment and don’t want to register, email me.