Sailing on Schooner J&E Riggin
October 6th, 2008The last week of September 22 was a great time to sail on the historic schooner J&E Riggin out of Rockland, Maine. Captains John and Annie and their wonderful crew made sure we were safe, well-fed, and entertained.
This was the first time I’d gone sailing where Julie was on the crew, and it was a pleasure seeing her in her element, crawling along bow sprits, raising sails and hauling anchor with crewmates Moxie and Erica.
The crew encouraged us to help out if we wanted to, and patiently answered our questions. This trip I got to help raise the various sails, and to bring in the jib and staysail a couple times when we tacked. Lots of great fun.
Meals on the Riggin were hearty and delicious, cooked by Erica and Annie on the wood stove in the galley. Everything was homemade and “from scratch”, from the breads and soups and even the incredible chicken pot pies we had for one of the lunches! On Thursday we dropped anchor at the Eggemoggin Reach and had a lobster bake right on the beach. Amazingly enough with all that great food I only gained 3 pounds on the six-day sail.
This was my third sail on a schooner, and I’m already looking forward to the next time. If you’re considering a sail, I would highly recommend it!
Tags: julie, Maine, riggin, schooner
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Echochrome Arrives Today
May 1st, 2008It’s not often that a totally different new game appears that just knocks my socks off. Back in the late 80s it was Tetris, a game that totally justified buying a GameBoy. A decade later it was Space Channel Five on the DreamCast. And a couple years ago it was Lumines on the PSP. And today a strange and wonderful little game called Echochrome will be released for the PSP.
Echochrome is a 3D game in a world with rules designed by M.C. Escher, where the laws of physics and perspective twist your brain in different directions, and perception is reality. In this world, if there’s a point of view where two unconnected things look like they line up, then they really do line up. For example, in the drawing below the stairs lead up to a beam that extends to the left, the end of which is obviously not connected to the L-shaped beam at the bottom of the stairs:
BUT! If you shifted your point of view up and to the right a bit, you could look down on the model, where the top and bottom beams look like they’re closer together:
Move just a wee bit more and you can get the two ends to line up exactly, and at that point magic happens in the game: they actually do connect, and one could easily walk from one beam to the other. From that point of view the model would be a continuous loop, where you could climb the stairs and walk back around to the stairs and climb them again, forever and ever.
These games of perspective and point of view are at the heart of may of Escher’s drawings and woodcuts, but to turn them into a playable game is shear genius. The game involves changing your point of view so that beams line up, gaps in beams are hidden behind other beams (if you can’t see a gap it doesn’t exist, and the little guy can walk right over it), and a guy falling thru a hole in a beam lands safely on a beam below it. The levels get complicated as you learn the rules of this world, pretty soon the levels start looking like this:
A demo of the game has been out for a while now, but it only offers a half dozen levels, but rumor has it the released game will have 56 levels. The game isn’t available yet, but then it’s not even 9am yet. Must… be… patient…
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It’s Friday
April 25th, 2008And spring must finally be here since the daffodils are out and the grass is starting to look more green than yellow.
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Calvinball vs Clintonball
April 24th, 2008In a race where Clinton has no chance of winning according to the pre-determined rules of the game (the candidate with the most delegates wins), the only way to win is by changing the rules and turning the game into Clintonball.
| Calvinball | Clintonball |
|---|---|
| Any player may declare a new rule at any point in the game. The player may do this audibly or silently depending on what zone the player is in. | Any player (Clinton or her surrogates) may declare a new rule or change the rules at any point in the game. The player does this quite vocally to anyone within earshot. |
| A player may use the Calvinball in any way the player see fit, from causal injury to self-reward. | A player may use results and statistics in any way the player sees fit, without regard for logic or common sense. |
| Any penalty legislation may be in the form of pain, embarassment, or any other abasement the rulee deems fit to impose on his opponent. | “Kitchen sink rules,” without regard for collateral to her opponent or the party. |
| The Calvinball Field should consist of areas, or zones, which are governed by a set of rules declared spontaneously and inconsistently by players. Zones may be appear and disappear as often and wherever the player decides. | The Clintonball Field should consiste of states, regions, or zones which are governed by a set of rules declared spontaneously and inconsistently, for example “only big states count” or “delegates don’t count, only popular vote” or when that doesn’t work only some vague “electability” counts. Other rules include “primaries count but caucuses don’t,” “only the right states count” (whatever those are), “small towns count, not big cities” (since those are elitist), “states with more electoral votes count” (despite the fact that any Democrat would win them). |
| Flags shall be named by players who shall also assign the power and rules which shall govern that flag for particular moment in that particular game. | Different rules apply to different states, so states neighboring a candidate’s state don’t count. Also states don’t count if they’re too white or too black. |
| Flags shall be named by players whom shall also assign the power and rules which shall govern that flag for particular moment in that particular game. | Players who haven’t shot a gun since they were 8, and who have lobbied all their lives for gun control, can pretend they’re all for guns and hunting. Beer drinking and bar shots are also encouraged if the camera is rolling. |
| Score may be kept or disregarded. In the event that score is kept, it shall have no bearing on the game nor shall it have any logical consistency to it. | Rules agreed on in advance may be disregarded or even challenged in mid-game if they’re not favorable to the player (see “Florida,” “Michigan” and “delegate count”). |
| Any rule above that is carried out during the course of the game may never be used again in the event that it causes the same result as a previous game. Calvinball games may never be played the same way twice. | Any rule above that is carried out during the course of the game may never be used again in the event that it advantages the opponent. Clintonball games may never be played the same way twice. |