Old Stuff: Necron Warriors

The nice thing about Necrons is that a very simple paint job can look really good on these guys. I painted my entire army in a couple of days because it took so little to make them look good. These were base coated in chaos black, drybrushed with boltgun metal and then various parts were painted over with scab red.

Tuesday Share

I’ve done this once or twice but I want to institutionalize it, every Tuesday I’m going to share a list of links to the stories I’ve read over the last week that I found interesting, thoughtful, provoking, etc… Whatever I feel is worth sharing, and what thoughts, if any, I had while reading them.

Necron Fleet – Painting and Fleet Creation

I’m pretty sure my Necron fleet is way too large… I’m pushing 2500 points. If I understood how fleets are made in the game I might be better able to determine just how and what to include in a fleet, besides throwing a little of everything in there like I have.

The Capitol Celebrates Harvey Milk’s Birthday

I really don’t know much about Mr. Milk. All I know is that he was killed while still in his prime. But, I admire the man for his bravery and acknowledge the place he holds for those in the LGBT rights movement.

Sea World at the Capitol – May 13, 2009

At first I thought it was unusual to see “wild” animals in a Senate chamber but after thinking about it for just a minute more it really seemed appropriate (especially if you’ve ever seen some of these Senators go at each other on the floor debating contentious legislation.)

Protests at the Capitol: Vang Pao Supporters March!

My hopes in the future are to be able to mingle with protesters and talk with them a bit to get their sense of why they’re protesting and what they hope to accomplish by doing so.

A quick word to California voters…

I’m sure you don’t like the propositions on the ballot for the election coming up in 9 days… But, if they go down prepare for a much uglier economic forecast from the State…

I know it’s easy to blame legislators for the mess, but the truth is, this mess is largely the result of voters. If they could pass a budget without asking the voters believe me, legislators would! But the last 20+ years voters have been budgeting from the ballot box and all the props. that have passed in recent years require voter approval to change them. The legislators don’t have any other choice in the matter, their hands have been tied by the ballot box.

Sadly, legislators seem unable to convey this to voters and so we’ve ended up with year after year of gimmicky budgets as legislators attempt to deliver ever more services to constituents with funds from an ever shrinking pot. Worse, legislators have to cope with this monstrous mess with one hand tied behind their backs: the 2/3 majority vote requirement for budget bills.

I’m not optimistic about these initiatives and so when they all fail and legislators and the governor have to figure out how to patch the multi-billion dollar hole in the state budget they’re going to do so with cuts.

You can’t have your cake and eat it too. Funding schools, mental health, extensive roads and transportation networks, etc… takes an incredible sum. You can’t have low taxes and high services. Sadly, the one thing that would help, a constitutional re-write isn’t on the table. I don’t care how it’d be accomplished, through a convention or an extraordinary session of the legislature, it needs to happen.

Or next year and the year after that Californians are going to be back where they are right now. That’s one ballot initiative I’d like to see, and then I’d like to see the initiative process go away. Direct democracy of that sort has only made the job of California legislators, leaders, and citizens more complicated and difficult

Reading Camus Pt. 2

I was amused that he posits that if he found suicide a logical consequence of the absurd world he’d commit it, knowing full well that regardless of his conclusions he hadn’t killed himself and so had found someway to rationalize life, despite initial claims to its inherent meaningless.

Stories and Posts I Enjoyed This Week

Roger Travis is a classics professor who really likes video games and believes there are many connections between the writings of Plato, Homer, and other ancient Greeks and video game design. I have some issues with his thesis but it does make for interesting reading. His latest post compares Plato’s allegory of the cave and video games his point being that much like those trapped in the cave, players believe the games they’re playing and the actions they take in them effect the real world, when all they are is an imitation. Heady stuff.

PZ Meyer’s comments on the new website set up by the Templeton Foundation:  BioLogos.  The site’s, and the foundation’s, mission is to reconcile faith and science.  PZ Meyer rightly accuses the new site of being full of emotional tripe and little that actually helps build a bridge between the two.  This post demonstrates how the problem of evil existing isn’t the problem for atheists as it is for theists.

Cory Doctorow, co-creator of BoingBoing and science fiction writer, shows how and why the Entertainment industry’s lobbying and greed is also its downfall.  I don’t know if I agree with this entirely.  I think despite a creator’s best efforts people will take free if they can get it, especially when it is so much more convenient than the alternative.  Link

XKCD’s comic on twitter and the swine flu

Lastly, a small post by former Computer Games for Windows editor Jeff Green about all the time he has now that he’s given up World of Warcraft (not to mention money!)

Expect the next part of my Camus re-read in a few days!