News from Year Sixteen

Crowdfunding emus [permalink]

22nov2013: A group of programmers whom I only know from the internet wanted to make a version of my game Emu Ranchers. Their original goal was to make a mobile app, which they still might do. They made a physical mockup of the card designs, though, and lots of people got excited about having actual decks.

So they are currently running a Kickstarter campaign to fund a print run of decks. There's also a cool 'Beware of Emu' shirt available. And if the project overfunds by enough, they'll make an app.

UPDATE: The campaign concluded successfully, reaching several overfunding goals!

Tightening the news [permalink]

5feb2014: For about the last ten years, my home page s had been assembled by a perl script which simultaneously updates my home page, the archive, and the rss feed. I resisted calling this a blog for years, but I realize that I have been willing to call it a blog now for even more years than I had resisted doing so.

The script required manually archiving the previous year and incrementing an internal counter at the end of the year. Many times, I forgot to roll it over until well after the November 8 anniversary. I could have automated the process, but it seemed like more trouble than it was worth; if the roll-over were really important, I would remember to do the once-a-year manual reset; conversely, if I didn't remember, then it's not important enough to be worth the trouble. Some years ago, I said I'd do something to change the system if it ever took me until after New Year's to catch it. It took until February this time, so action is required. The appropriate action, I think, is to retire the s box.

All of the content will remain hereabouts on the site, even though some of it now looks quite dated. The "" image was once an iconic bit of the internet. The Solipsist Web Ring dates back to when web rings were all the rage. The Outrageous Fashion Advisory System similarly depends on terror alert levels. And Am I AND or NOT? depends on the original form of HOT or NOT.

Like leg warmers kept in the attic well into the 1990s, these relics will persist. But unlike things in the attic, they will persist on the web where anyone can find them and draw some small satisfaction from living in the 2010s. Or the 2020s. But not the 2030s, because we'll probably have transcended physical form or been conquered by spaniels from Sirius by then.