True Confession

I like to present myself as a cool, calm, polite individual, moderate and thoughtful in all things. But such is not always the situation, I'm afraid.

Case in point, this evening. I'm working on a short story I promised a friend and a telemarketer calls. Nothing out of the ordinary. She slurs the name of the company she's representing. She gets my name wrong (as I noted below, I use that as a way of getting up the defenses in time). She says that someone at the household has answered a phone questionaire. I tell her that this is highly unlikely (The Lovely Bride is even more unwilling to deal with telemarketers than I am). She tells me that this is what their records indicate, and I must be wrong. I tell her in a forceful voice to put us their do-not-call list.

She pleads that she did not understand because I was shouting.

I explain that what she heard was not shouting.

Then I demonstrate for her what shouting was, and hung up in a righteous fury.

And I immediately think, "Where the heck did THAT come from?" I tried to remember the last time I was that loud and unpleasant on the phone (I think it was another telemarketer, many years ago, who called looking for donations for a no-name Veterans group, and when I demurred, snarled "Whaddaya got against Veterans?"). I felt a little sheepish - I had been raised to treat people politely, regardless of how boneheaded they were.

And then she called back.

I know what you're thinking - a chance of redemption, of making nice. Of at least finding out how she was so badly trained.

Such was not to be. As soon as she identified herself, she was greeted with requests of "Do not call back" and "Put us on your do not call list" in ever-increasing volume, until she finally said, "Yes, sir, I will, if only you'd. . ." The rest of her words were cut off as I said "Thank you" cheerfully and hung up on her.

And so I still felt guilty, and after staring at the story for ten more minutes, feeling bad about myself, I abandoned my work and fired up World of Warcraft. And though I proceeded to cast Power Word: Fortitudes and Heal spells on needy travelers, it did little to abate my guilt.

Yet I will provide the following free advice for the poor slugs who have to call people like me to sell filtration systems, screen doors, and gutters:

1) Get my name right on the first bounce.
2) Don't disagree with me or disrepect me.
and 3) Never, EVER wear a headset.

More later,

Dyvil (Is that still around?)

The Dyvil requests topped out just shy of 200, so I wrote a check for $200 to the Red Cross (well, the Lovely Bride phoned in the donation, but you get the gist). I’m really impressed with the response, and thank everyone who wrote in for a copy. We’ve got ten days to go (The offer ends on October 15), and if things kick up again, I will be glad to write another check. Well, have the Lovely Bride make another phone call. (For some reason I’m not to be trusted with pens. You know how banks chain their pens up? I’m the reason for that. Yeah, me.).

For those that tuned in late and don’t follow links to the original article, here’s the deal. – Write to Steve Miller at nuelow@earthlink.net, and he will send you a copy of Dyvil: First Edition (The words "First Edition" is a threat, not a promise). Then I kick in a buck to the Red Cross for Hurricane Relief. That simple. You get at 30-Minute RPG (meaning it took thirty minutes to write, not thirty minutes to play), and I give money. What do you have to lose?

Now, if you prefer more of a “real” gaming/fiction/art product (by, you know, people who thought about it), I will direct you to the Beyond the Storm Project that Jason Mical and other noble worthies have been putting together. This is a REAL purchase, $10.00 pdf (Print on Demand coming), with the proceeds going to Katrina relief.

More later,

Cooper's Sparkling Ale

So this weekend, Stan returned from San Diego to the wilds of Puget Sound for the weekend. There were dinners and discussions and cool stuff about the Serenity movie. In honor of his return, I hosted a irregular meeting of the Alliterates, our irregular writing group.

It was pretty nice - Steve, Wolf, and Jess showed up, brats were boiled, hamburgers broiled, and we engaged in gossip and witty banter that would put the Algonquin Roundtable to shame. However, the Patented Alliterate Zone of Silence prevents me from sharing any of this. Instead, I will merely speak well of Wolf, better know as the Monkey King and his choice of beers.

I was cooking the meal, and asked the others to bring drinkables. Wolf asked me what beer I would prefer, and I retorted immediately "Cooper's Sparkling Ale". Now, this is my standard response, since Cooper's is one of the rarer beers I know of, and I never expect anyone to have it.

Its a rare beer because it's an Australian beer - more importantly, a South Australian beer that I discovered when the Lovely Bride and I were in Adelaide, South Australia, on an Earthwatch mission, many (many) years ago. Many things still stick in my memory of that trip, but one was the hot, dry heat of Kangaroo island, and the other was the fact that we broke for tea in the middle of the afternoon. And by "tea" I mean that beer was served. And the beer was Cooper's Sparkling Ale, the local brew, which was always served with the remark "It's better than Foster's".

I would call Cooper's a blonde beer, similar to Red Hook, with a nice sweet taste and not too much in the hops. So for years afterwards I have kept an eye out for the beer. And in places that brag "560 Beers on tap" I would order it, and always be disappointed.

Well, Wolf found it. He found it at Larry's Market (no, I'm not saying which one). It's not on display, but is kept in the back for special requests. Yep, it's a secret beer. And I insisted on sharing it with the others when he brought it in.

How was it? I think it is best drunk in the arid warmth of a South Australian January, with wallabies bouncing around, and it had almost a slight gritty aftertaste, perhaps the result of settling. But it was the brew that I remember, and I appreciate it.

And I squirreled away the last bottle for after work today.

More later,

Doorbelling

So one of the many advantages that I have in life is that I go professionally and personally by my middle name (Jeff). The reason for this is I share my first name with my father, and growing up it avoided confusion as to which one of us was in trouble with my mother (note that when we were in real trouble, she would use the full names anyway). But the result of this was that when someone calls to sell me gutters or insurance or asks me for help with a political campaign, I already have my shields up when they ask for me by my first name.

Not so in this case. The caller from the Sierra Club (who will remain nameless) recognized my last name, and the first question on the phone was "Is this Jeff?". So I was blindsided and easily manipulated into volunteering to help the Sierra Club do some door-to-doot Get Out The Vote (GOTV) work this weekend. Just so you know, the Lovely Bride already edits the local Sierra Club newsletter calender, and today was down at Soos Creek, helping with some new plantings.

So I, Jorgen (who was our team leader) and a woman named Eleanor were covering the Hilltop neighborhood of south Bellevue. Our task was to contact possible voters (culled from the election rolls) with the message to vote this November 8th, and to think about the environment when making their choices. We were handing out fliers comparing the records and statements of the two candidates from King County Executive - Ron Sims and Dave Irons. Ron Sims has been a supporter for open spaces, clean air and water, and hybrid busses. Irons? Not so much. We are not allowed to campaign for one candidate, thought the fact of it was that if you're interested in the Environment (and its a safe bet to say that if you're canvassing for the Sierra Club, you are), its likely that you're probably leaning towards Ron in the first place.

In general, it was pretty nice. It was a pleasant neighborhood of nice homes with largish yards, and the trees have had a chance to grow up around the houses. I didn't run into anyone who was hostile, though more than a few were abrupt or impatient (as I would be if I was hauled off the sofa for a political message). I found that I was reading my subjects and changing my patter, shortening it up if they were in the "Get on with it" mode, and smiling and thanking them if they said they weren't interested. I've had to deal with enough idiot cold-callers over the years to know that when someone says no, its 95% likely that they mean "please go away", and the cause is better served by being "that nice young man" than being "that jerk who argued his points".

I had only one talker, and very nice man who had alder tree blown down in his back yard in the rains yesterday, and would rather talk to an activist (or even, I suspect, have major dental surgery) go back to the woodchipper he had rented. And one house had a very detailed and amusing "no solicitor" sign that I thought was amusing, however, it was mounted so I had to get up to the porch itself to read it, which sort of defeated the purpose of the sign.

So my feet hurt, but I've done a good thing for the day. Now I have to catch up on the other things that I put aside to do this.

Sigh.

More later,

Back to Iraq

So this past week one of Kate’s regular fellow-gamers shipped out, heading for Baghdad. Actually, he’s heading for West Texas first, apparently because after being in Texas for a while, Iraq starts looking good. His area of expertise is setting up health and sanitation systems, something that’s in desperate need both in Iraq and in the states bordering the Gulf. This is his second trip –he did his bit in Gulf War I a few years back. For the past couple years, he’s been in this on-again off-again status about deployment, but the boot finally dropped.

My thoughts are with him, and also on the conflict he’s going into. And it does make me think of another war in Southeastern Asia. No, not Vietnam. I'm thinking of the Philippines. 

The Philippine-American war is truly a forgotten war, as it is known as that only in the Phillipines. When its called anything in the States its called the Philippine Insurrection, and treated as a footnote to the Spanish-American War, even though the Philippine conflict lasted longer and produced more casualties on all sides. Yeah, that’s one similarity to the present state of affairs. One of many.

The Philippine-American War took place during that wonderful euphemism of history that we called “The Age of Imperialism” in our history books, an uptick of military activity between the Civil War and WWI. Its like we caught a case of Imperialism like one gets a mild dose of the clap, but a shot of patriotism cleared it right up. Actually, it represents the time when we stopped just invading neighboring countries (Canada, Mexico, most of Central America) and started taking our tour world-wide.

OK, here’s the short form – you remember the Spanish-American War? The Maine and San Juan Hill and the Roughriders? No? OK, that’s a discussion for another war. Let’s just say that in the course of that war we invaded the Philippines, another Spanish holding, and with the help of the locals, routed the Spanish there as well. The locals were under the impression that we would kick out the ruling elites, then leave (promises were apparently made). Instead we set up bases for the long haul, and the liberators became occupiers. 

Any of this sound familiar?

The Philippine-American War had a relatively short pure-military phase and a much longer guerilla phase. It was declared unilaterally over by the American side, though the locals continued the fight. A lot of progressives argued against involvement in the Philippines, including major writers of the period (such as Mark Twain). The war resulted in the Americans putting up permanent bases. And over a period of decades the Americans kept handing offices and responsibilities back to the Philippine people, while restricting the true power to the parts that were still American-controlled or American-influenced

Atrocities by the Americans were common – there was such a market in “trophy skulls” (heads of defeated rebels) that graveyards in San Francisco were raided to keep up with the demand. If there was an Internet in those days they would have traded them for porn.

Eventually, the plan was to hand over power to the Philippine people (actually, the ruling elites, but still locals) by the mid-forties. The Japanese (also in a period called “Imperial”) upset that timetable and Americans left (temporarily). They returned and retook the islands with the help of the (you got it) local rebels, who were then sold out AGAIN to put power back in the hands of the ruling families. Even today, there are parts of the Philippines that one does not go to, for fear of guerilla activity (though most of the cities are under control, and the nation has a relative democracy in place, punctuated by corruption and strongmen like Marcos).

Now the point of all this, is that, from a US government point of view, it all worked out. The US has ended up with an ally in the Western Pacific that we have relatively tight control over, that allows us heavy use of our military power (The Philippines were a major jumping-off point for troops heading for Viet Nam). There continue to be flare-ups in hostilities, and the ruling elites have moved into the leadership positions established by the Americans. And the same thing could happen in Iraq.

The trouble is, it may take a century to get there, as well.

More later,

Movie: Woo!

Serenity - Directed by Joss Whedon, Starring Nathan Fillon, Gina Torres, Summer Glau, Written By Joss Whedon

Woo.

Just that. Woo.

So I got to an advanced screening last night (the film opens on Friday). They've been doing this for months now, advanced screenings to build buzz for the movie, and I got in because someone (like Stan) mentioned that there were free passes available through Townhall.com for the press, and bloggers were counted as press. So I abused my position and the Lovely Bride and I attended a showing last night up in the U district sponsored by the University Film Club. I think we were the oldest people in the place (unless there were some OTHER well-preserved vampires), and the most of them were big fans of Firefly, the TV show that this movie grew out of. Many of them were wearing orange knitted hats, a reference to the series that I will not explain here. So we had a friendly audience that laughed and gasped and cheered along with us. And . . .

Woo. I mean it. My tongue dried out from hanging my mouth open so much. This is a really good film.

OK, so Firefly was a space western put together by Joss "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" Whedon. A motley crew of rebels, outlaws, and fugitives do small jobs in a broken down spaceship, armed with six-guns and old west attitude. When a young doctor and his spooky sister come on board, things get interesting. And that's all I'm going to tell you about the plot.

But, you know, Woo.

I'm trying to think of another SF film where the script, dialogue, acting, and special effects all came together so amazingly. Usually you have to excuse one piece or another because of its genre roots, but its all here. The script is tight. The dialog sparkles. The acting and direction are subtle and engaging. The characters are horribly and wonderfully human. And the battle sequences are everything that mix-master quick cuts of the recent Star Wars films were not. They were poetic.

Go see this movie. That's all I'm going to say - go see this movie.

Woo.

More later (woo!)

Local Politics: Potpourri

Bits and pieces from the front.

The 1st distict King County Council has see-sawed back and forth between Edmonds and Ferguson, but at the most recent count has Ferguson up by about 1000 votes. This is enough to negate the need for a mandatory recount, which disappoints their GOP rivals, who love to put about that close election must therefore be a botched election (unless a Republican wins - then it is something called a "mandate").

However, we do have a very tight race that may necessitate are recount for second place in the Sherrif's race, which is also disappointing to conservatives because all those involved are cops. Rahr holds her commanding lead, but Fuda and Schmdt continue to vie for each other with a fractions of a percentage point difference.

Meanwhile, the State GOP has repealed the 11th Commandment. That is, the requirement that one not speak ill of other Republicans (yes, they really had a party rule on that). The rule has been used in the past to bludgeon recalcitrant candidates into line, more often by the Business-conservative GOP against the Social-conservative GOP. Odd that this happens after the primaries and all. The party officials hope to have new guidelines in place to encourage party harmony without making people laugh at them.

On a national level, former FEMA director Mike Brown has a new gig as (wait for it) a consultant to FEMA! Yep, we're definitely running government like a big corporation. Mr. Brown was on the Hill, blaming every non-federal individual around him for the disasters, including a head-nod to local political blog Horse's Ass, which had earlier outed his past experience, or lack of thereof. You know, its not fair in the competition for Best Local Blog if you're going to do real reporting!

More later,

Play: Pulling Strings

Cathay: 3 Tales of China Conceived, written & directed by Ping Chong, Made in collaboration with Shaanxi Folk Art Theater, Seattle REP, September 10-October 9, 2005

The Lovely Bride and I have season tickets with the REP, which I like because its pins us down to going at a certain time to a certain place for a certain show. It can be particularly rewarding if the show is one that I might not choose to see on my lonesome. I mean, I can't really imagine waking up one Saturday morning and saying "Yaknow, I'm really in the mood for a good puppet show".

And that's what we have here, for the lead-off for the 2005 season as well as its new artistic director. A puppet show - well presented, ingenious, but ultimately as hollow as a marionette's head.

Cathay: 3 Tales of China consists of three smaller plays, given linkage by a pair of highly animated statues, who serve as smart-alecky Statler and Waldorf for the proceedings (and are the most human of the figures presented). The first tale is in the Tang dynasty of an eternal love overturned by duty to state, where the empress must die for the empire to live. The second tale jumps dramatically to WWII where the Japanese invaders destroy the life of a young boy. And the third takes place in a hotel in modern cosmopolitan China, with sort of a Grand Hotel vibe to it.

All of this is presented on a grand stage of sliding panels that move smoothly from one sequence to the next, and mixes all manner of puppetry. And from a technical end, it's brilliant, and got me thinking about how this form of entertainment can pull off stuff that normal theater cannot. The puppetry and staging allows quick cuts, long establishing shots, creates greater depth trough using different size puppets of the same characters, and effective camera work impossible with normal stagecraft. One scene, shown from a viewpoint of the ceiling above, top down, was particularly impressive.

The problem here, is that I found myself trying to solve the production challenges presented by the presentation as opposed to tuning into the play itself. How did they pull that off? Am I listening to a tape or a live speaker? Am I watching life shadow-puppetry or a pre-created projection? And that's the prob - I should not have the time to key in on such things. Beneath the shiny surface, the structure does not hold together, and the plot does not engage or really resolve. Both the first story and the second are resolved in the third, but don't seem to connect to each other at all. What is the underlying theme - that people suffer but the state endures? That China is always going to have its barbarians - be they mongols or rappers?

In many ways it reminded me of SF movies at the dawn of Industrial Light and Magic, where they suddenly had the power to create impressive-looking displays, but taking years for the scriptwriting to catch up (yes, some will argue that it is still an ongoing process). I cannot doubt the skill of the puppeteers - it is portrayed in every nuance. But puppetry is a cool presentation format. Not cool as in neat, but rather as in distant and removed. So without a strong base beneath it, it ultimately disappoints.

I know I saw a show. The question is whether I saw theater.

More later,

Frippery

Of course, after saying that I'm so busy, I immediately fall into someone else's meme: NikChick put this up on her board.

1. Reply with your name and I will write something random about you
2. I will then tell you what song/movie reminds me of you.
3. I will pick a flavor of jello to wrestle with you in.
4. I will say something that only makes sense to you and me.
5. I will tell you my first memory of you (or at least a prominent one).
6. I will tell you what animal you remind me of.
7. I'll then ask you something that I've always wondered about you.
8. If I do this for you, you must post this on your LJ.

So I sent her my name and got back the following:

Random: Tai chi master!
Song: Istanbul Not Constantinople - They Might Be Giants
Flavor: blueberry
Say Something: "I heard this rumor layoff were happening..."
First Memory: Doing a product trade with you back in the days of Al Qadim
Animal: Cheshire cat!
Always wondered: If you had to make a total career switch that didn't involve writing or game design, what would you do?

The answer to the question is that I would run a TV newsroom, with an acerbic head writer, a lunkhead of an announcer, and an assistant producer who could turn the world on with her smile. Or I'd just be a grumpy engineer.

So I meant what I said and I said what I meant - I'm posting this on my journal. However, I still don't enable comments, but if you are a journal-keeper that I know, send me you name and I will do the same for you, and post the most amusing later.

Oh, and by the way, have I mentioned Dyvil recently?

More later,

Local Politics: Fallout

I have things to say, but no time to say them. My weekend has gone from "a good time to catch up on things" to another weekend of rushes, frustrated desires, and previous commitments. I have yet to even pass fully into Friday night and I’m already feeling the stress. But I want to do a summary of the Primary Results and throw a closed parenthesis on this part of the election process.

First off, Reagan Dunn took out Steve Hammond handily in the 9th, leaving the rural areas with no strong representation on the King County Council. Way to go! We’ve made King County government more efficient by disenfranchising a good chunk of King County! While I’m no fan of Hammond’s politics, he conceded like a gentleman and offered both his support and his advice to winner Dunn. Dunn now is favored against Shirley Gaunt-Smith, the Dem, but I don’t think it was the “dunn-deal” it would have been with Hammond.

Way over in the 1st Democratic primary, we have another nail-biter, where the margin of victory is very tight. Ferguson, who performed a strong ground game (I was moving a friend near Green Lake on Saturday and we were hit up by canvassers) took a lead, but Edmonds got strong in the mail-in votes, and while Ferguson widened the lead, it’s pretty evenly spread. No shenanigans have been alleged (in fact the Secretary of State pointed out it was a quiet election untainted by scandal, much to the frustration of his fellow Republicans).

The other close race is for who gets to run against Sue Rahr for Sheriff. Rahr took the lead spot easily, but Fuda and Schmidt are both real tight in the race for second place. I’m surprised, since I thought Fuda would do better. The Lovely Bride went for Rahr based on her political endorsements, I went for Fuda on the recommendation of his fellow officers.

Over for the King County Executive, it’s going to be Dem Ron Simms against GOP Dave Irons, as expected. The State GOP was kind of hoping for some election-related scandal to beat up Simms with in the general, but in the absence of that, they’re trying to spin that Simms victory as soft (he only got 69% of the vote in a light field). Of course, Greg Nichols race for Mayor got 56% in a race against relative unknowns, and Sue Rahr got 64%, yet no one is trying to push the idea of either one being vulnerable (indeed, the “no one can stop Nichols” vibe remains strong).

Speaking of Irons, this morning’s Seattle Times has a story that shows he’s embracing the same tactics that endeared Dino Rossi to me - approaching the issues by surrounding them on all sides. He’s apparently told one group that he is dead-set against Southwest moving from SeaTac to Boeing Field, while telling supporters of the move that he’s open to negotiations on it. And that tactic will work out fine, as long as each group doesn’t find out about the other (uh-oh).

Port Authority looks like its going to be Creighton versus Molloy, Berkowitz versus Hara, and Jolley versus Davis. The interesting one is Creighton, who I thought of as just another candidate, only to discover after the fact that he has thrown a lot of money into the campaign, won by a huge margin, and is part of the Dino Rossi/GOP/Pro-Development team. Pity you can’t tell that from just a name on the ballot. Remember that the position is non-partisan. The candidates? Not so much.

That’s the short update for the primary. Now we grind to November. I’ve already gotten a mailing for Julia Patterson (Democrat incumbent for the 5th District). Getting out there early and often apparently paid off for Dunn, and should work for Patterson as well.

Next up, we whine about initiatives!

More later,

Things To Do Today

1. Vote
2. Promote Dyvil: First Edition
3. Engage in the Memes Du Jour

You scored as Aramis. You are Aramis, the Musketeer priest. Two natures war within you: one full of high-minded ideals and the other a sensualist. Your love life is an art form, and you are a Romantic who places great importance on the perfect date. Sometimes you manipulate people and events a little too much, but your heart is good nevertheless. Aramis 70% D'Artagnan 70% Richelieu 65% Porthos 55% Edmund Dantes 50% Athos 40% Mercedes 40% Rochefort 30% Which Dumas character are you? created with QuizFarm.com

OK, I'm done. More later,

Avast, Me Hearties!

It be "Talk Like A Pirate Day", me boyos! So join me in hon'rin' the Brotherhood o' the Coast, or I'll have ye keelhauled! Ya kin get yer Pirate Name generated here - Dirty Elizabeth (better known as Scarlettina, which be a better pirate name in itself) gave me tha' link!

I be Cutthroat Badfish, but that's CAPTAIN Badfish to yah, yah landlubbers!

Yarg, yarg, yarg, ho!

Local Politics: The Jeff Recommends

No Dyvil this time. I know, you want to hear about how I'm pushing this insane idea to raise money for the Red Cross AND give you a short, fun RPG, but I'm sorry, we're into Politics at the moment.

Of course, the Politics is not that exciting at the moment. We're at a primary where most of the choices have already been made in the political posts, and the non-political positions are all top-two, which means we will likely seem the same guys in a few months from now. So there's not a lot going on.

For the Fifth District King County Commissioners, its going to be Julia Patterson versus Orin Wells. For King County Executive, its going to be Ron Sims versus David Irons. For Mayor of Seattle its going to be Greg Nickels against an empty chair. Yep, the state GOP couldn't even find a sacrificial candidate for the mayor's race. Given that Nickels has suddenly withdrawn his support for the Monorail and asked for a FIFTH public vote on the matter (managing in the process to irritate BOTH Monorail supporters and detractors at the same time), they could be bashing their GOP-foreheads against their GOP-monitors.

For Port Authority, I'm going with Shelly in Seattle's recommendations: Molloy for position 1, Coates for position 3, and Jolley for position 4, but reserve the right to revisit the matter when the dust settles.

For Sherrif, I go with Fuda by a half-point over Rahr, with the same claim to revisit later. Susan Rahr has the support of every big group involved in the Sherrif's office except one - the officers themselves, who are going for Fuda. Mind you, Fuda has the "diploma-problem" that seems to be plaguing a lot of elected and appointed officials all of a sudden, so I'm very lukewarm about this.

That about wraps it up for the votes that I have any real say in. I'm not in the 1st District for King County Commissioner (Ferguson vs. Edmonds, a nasty fight), but I lean towards Ferguson. I'd rather see a more independent voice in this area. I shan't cry in my beer if Edmonds takes it - Whoever wins the Democratic vote in the 1st will likely take the general.

The opposite is true in my old digs in the 9th, which is the Hammond-Dunn matchoff - the GOP winner is likely to take the field. And, progressive that I am, I should therefore recommend the weaker of the two candidates. So I will call it for Dunn. I think with Hammond as candidate, there is a 90% chance that the GOP will take the district. With Dunn, it drops to 75%. This is for two reasons. First, I think that supporters of Hammond, particularly in the rural areas, would rather sit out the election than go to Dunn, while Dunn supporters would settle for Hammond (this is particularly bad news for Irons, who needs those rural votes to make a credible run against Simms - a Dunn victory may make that unlikely (oddly enough, this is the conclusion of Right of Seattle a local conservative blog, and apparently the only other one covering this fight). Second, I think the odds of Dunn saying or doing something teeth-grindingly foolish in the next two months is much higher than Hammond, giving the Dems a shot at the region.

And despite the paper's claim that there is no difference between these two pro-business, conservative candidates, I have to disagree. They both favor development, but Bellevue-based Dunn is with the developers, while rural-supported Hammond is with those who lands are being developed. Dunn comes off as being in the offices, while Hammond has been on the frontline of the development curve.

So those are my calls for the Primary - It is a pretty thin field, all in all, but as it's been said: If God wanted us to vote, he would have given us candidates.

More later,

The Brief (?) Update

So my weekends are starting to involve more work than my weekdays, or rather just as much, smooshed into a two-day frame. So this is brief and entirely Dvyil-oriented. (You know the drill - the write-up is here)

The news continues to spread: We got a mention from Mo of Space and Death, which in turn spread to Gamer Chicks, Chicks with Dice, and Toronto Gamers (Good Evening, Toronto! Are you Ready to Rock?!). We also got a mention on the Rpg Showcase podcast out of Wyoming. And Steve Miller started a thread on Monte Cook's board.

The hobby game industry continues to respond to the devastation of Katrina. Jason Mical has contributed both his work and his marketing skills to the charity Beyond the Storm project. And game industry founder Dave Arneson has put together a charity raffle for Hurricane relief at his local store and is willing to make himself available to help other efforts.

Yes, I know, the primary is coming up Tuesday, but I'm a little busy this week for well-researched, thoughtful endorsements. I'll make recommendation if I can, but I will point out that others, such as Shelly in Seattle, are already on the beat for their districts. Shelly also has some good general advice on endorsements in general as well.

More later,

Local Politics: The Ground Game

Note: So after spending an evening coming up with every Dyvil pun I could think of (The Dyvil Inside, Dyvil in a Blue Dress, The Dyvil Went Down to Georgia), I decided to spare readers the onslaught (The Dyvil You Say?). Instead, if you’re interested in Dyvil: First Edition and seeing me give money to the Red Cross, go here.

We have crested triple digits already in four days. Hey, I’m impressed. In the meantime, let’s talk about Yard Signs!

At this stage of the campaign yard signs are rarely found on the yards. Instead they blossom, like strange multicolored weeds, in empty lots, and along highway railings and in the no-mans-land of public roadsides. They congregate at corners, each one pushing their own candidate in a flurry of strong primary colors. Red and blue are common, but greens and aquas and maroons have also shown up.

There seem to be two varieties of this politcal weed, evolving from different types of materials in to the same evolutionary niche. The two separate species are paper on a stick and plastic on wires. In this region, the old-fashioned paper on a stick version seems to still secure, as strong breezes (and passersby) tend to shred the plastic too easily. Of the current crop at the South End, only Ron Sims has gone the wire route. Everyone else is. . . um . . . wireless.

Of the stick variety, most of the signs tend to be one color – that is, one color on a white background. Some campaigns (Sims (yellow and black), Wells (red and blue), and Fuda (yellow and green) go for a two-color approach, which shows both deeper pockets but with it a tendency to spend money of frivolities. The Reagan Dunn campaign has rolled out a four-color version - the red and blue on white of an earlier edition of the signs plus a new yellow and black starburst asking you to “retain” Reagan Dunn. Nicely attractive, and creating two levels of collectability. Needless to say, these new editions have only showed up in the northern parts of the district (where Dunn could still be considered an incumbent).

There’s an advantage in the one-color approach, however, in that you can get more signs for the campaign dollar. In addition, if you’re an incumbent, you can use the same bloody designs (and sometimes the same bloody signs) you used last time. That’s the case with Julia Patterson of my new district, the 5th. She has carpet-bombed the area that has recently been ceded to her. It’s an awareness campaign, and it's worked – even though she doesn’t have any opposition for the primary, she’s well-established for the general.

The problem, of course, with placing your signs on public property is that they can disappear as easily as they appear. People may think twice before pulling a sign off your yard (well, some people don’t, but they are usually the dead-of-night-hope-the-owners-aren’t-watching-and have-a shotgun crowd), but anything in the public areas is sort of a jump ball. On my commute, I’ve regularly seen signs appear and then disappear the next day. I’d like to think that people have just taken the signs home to plant, but I haven’t seen a lot of evidence of that, yet.

Taking political wisdom from signage is similar to figuring out who is running China from the wall posters, and about as accurate. What do I take away from my daily commutes? White with Red or Blue remains the most popular approach, with Red, White and Blue works for those that can afford it. The Patterson campaign is going to the matresses early and hard - I expect to hear a lot more from her in the future. The Dunn campaign is spending like this is the general campaign (and for all intents, it probably is - the 9th is traditionally GOP, and the parts that were changing were tossed over to the 5th). Hammond remains strong in the South and East, and his signs are usually paired with Irons for King County Executive. The off-shades for the sherrif's campaigns of both Rahr and Fuda tend to look good by themselves, but get shouted out by the strong contrasts of everybody else.

But in general? Its a quiet campaign, even for the huge about of litter along the highway barriers.

More later,

Dyvil in the Details

Are we going to be subjected to a plethora of "Dyvil" puns for the next month? It's very possible. What is going to happen is that I'm going to continue to link to the original announcement so people who come to the site can get the nitty-gritty without the reviews, reflections, and rants getting in the way.

The news is still spreading - RPG Blog gave us a shout-out, and Jon of Nothing Good Can Come of This . . . put in a plug. We also got a couple mentions in the message section of RPG.net, which also has a thread on other contributions from the hobby game industry. We're already at the stage where more people have asked for the game than I thought actually ever read this site.

Briefly, I in turn want to do a shout-out to our local paper, the Seattle Times. The organized media takes a hammering for not being as light and nimble as the web, but they have the chops to inform and instruct. In particular, they did a mighty fine job on personal disaster preparation this past weekend, and if you're in our neighborhood (and even if you're not), you should pay attention.

They also asked the question that was on my mind: We just saw the re-assignment, followed by the resignation, of the Director of FEMA, who had a spotty resume and deeply political ties. The Times went looking to see if anyone matching this description was operating locally, and found one, in the form of our own local FEMA honcho. Though according to the rival P-I, he's not a bad sort at all, and he has been studying.

I feel so much safer. You, on the other hand, may want to find out who's in your chain of command.

Oh, and on the Dyvil puns - it could be worse, I could be playing Hanson in this space until you pay me to stop.

MMMbop!

More later.

And So It Begins . . .

So yesterday, about 10:30 AM, I posted that we were giving away the Dyvil: First Edition RPG (see the post directly below) for Hurricane Relief. Go read the post, the but upshot of it all is I'm kicking in a buck to the Red Cross for every copy we give away for the next month. Steve's original posting on the matter can be found here.

At the same I posted, I wrote to my fellow Alliterates and told them of my scheme, and asked them to pass on the word. Matt Forbeck, Jason Mical, and Don Perrin, all of whom have ready access to personal sites or journals, put up short notes linking back to me. The news has also been picked up in turn by GamingReport.com, and added to their growing list of gaming professionals and companies, large to small, that are pitching in to help.

And if you want to link up and spread the word, please be my guest. You can hot link to the article by itself by clicking the little pound-marker at the lower left of the entry, so you don't have to put up with whatever-the-heck-it-is I'm ranting about at the moment.

Early responses have been surprisingly positive, and I am delighted to report that all the requests have gone to Steve and none of them to me. Woo-Hoo! The system works!

More later,

Money Where My Mouth Is

If you contact Steve Miller at nuelow@earthlink.net and put "Dyvil Roleplaying Game" in the title line, he will send you a copy of the game, and I will donate a buck for Hurricane relief. No, you're not asked to buy anything - this is one of those pledge drives things where I'm doing all the heavy lifting. You get a real short, playable RPG in pdf format and I get to see my finances drop a small notch.

Here's what happened: Steve Miller has created Steve Miller's 30-Minute RPG Challenge (also called SM-30). You write an RPG in 30 minutes. You edit it in another 30 minutes. He prints it up as a pdf file and then (usually) sells it and splits the take with you. He issued the challenge to me several months back, and I told him if I came up with a mechanic and a world concept, I'd consider it. I came up with mechanic based on all the six-siders I have around the house. And I thought up a world. So I wrote it down. Then I edited it (Well, wrote up a FAQ). And I gave it to him.

And then Katrina hit.

We first talked about doing this as a promotional thing (buy this pdf for two bucks and we'll give a dollar to the Red Cross), but I really want to get the money moving, so I'm taking this on myself. And, to be honest, this is exactly what it sounds like - an RPG written in 30 minutes. We're talking eight pages, tops, counting the donated cover art by Bradley K. McDevitt, I think giving it away for the first month makes perfect sense anyway, so I'm going to sweeten the pot - grab my RPG and I will go into the hole financially on your behalf.

In Dyvil: First Edition the war between Good and Evil is over. Good won. God rules. Unfortunately, you represent the forces of evil. Now deal with it. It's an interesting concept (Sort of a "World of Shiny-ness"), and one that actually has some potential beyond a mere 30 minutes. But I was putting it together quickly and playing it for the occasional laugh, so you get eight pages.

OK, here's the fine print - I'm springing for the first 500 copies sent out (the goal is make Jeff poorer, not make Jeff broke). Steve keeps track of discrete hits, so you can't just order a bunch of them. Its only for the next month - the offer is over on the 15th of October, 2005, and we probably will sell it (the exact same thing) thereafter. So here's your chance - you get a cheap (free) RPG and help out a decent cause. And if you're interested in Steve Miller's 30-Minute RPG or actually PLAY Dyvil and like it - go tell Steve about it.

More later,

Local Politics - Voter's Guide

But First: Mystical Forest links to leadership. Paul Kemp talks about the President's authority to act (quick version: He has it). Poppy Z. Brite has 14 of her cats rescued. Gaming cartoonist John Kovalic does a political cartoon comes up with a new product tie-in. And Lady Gumdrop's brother-in-law ships out for the Gulf. Our gulf.

But hey, let's look at the Voter's Guide for King County's primary. Here's the on-line link so you can play along

Let me pick on the cover a moment (not on the online version, thank gods), which continues the weird cartoony vibe of earlier elections, with the cartoon female pen ("Penny") darkening the holes of the pudgy, male ballot (Billy? Bally? Gimpy?). The Lovely Bride says I shouldn't fixate, but it has a weird, almost carnal feeling to it. I just keep staring at it and wondering what the next level of their relationship is and feeling shamed about it.

Add to the fact that Penny is voting for one of three office-holders (which is two more than in the majority of races inside - a cartoon pen gets more choices than we do). The candidates, in all their copyright-violating splendor are: E.T, Bambi, and Pinocchio. Now I think Bambi is the Democrat, catching that "deer in the headlights" feel. E.T. is an independent who doesn't realize he can't run because he's (wait for it) an illegal alien (thank you - I'll be here all week). And Pinocchio is the Republican. He was a Democrat, but he started carrying a pencil sharpener with him when he switched parties.

Inside, there is a "Life of your Ballot" flowchart that just begs for satire from both sides ("Step Five: Be sure to explain to the nice lawyers that you aren't dead!"). And when we get to the candidates - well, there it goes downhill a bit.

I really miss the 9th, since that's the only county race in South King that has any real passion in it. Goldy over at Horses Ass already lit into Reagan Dunn's twisted language (look for the 1 September entry) that makes it sound like Dunn was admiring terrorists and promising to bring those hard-working terrorist values to the Council. No, he doesn't mean it that way, but the Dunn campaign needs an copy editor, in case anyone out there is interested in a gig.

Hammond's statement is interesting in that he can portray himself both as the incumbent (yes, both men were originally selected for the posts they now occupy, but Hammond at least was re-elected once) and an outsider (even though he won the caucus vote). Hammond also makes a grim point - even if elected, he would be the only rural member on the council. The redistricting has pretty must pulled the teeth of the rural voters, which is a shame.

It's also a shame I don't get the mailers for Dunn and Hammond to get an idea on the ground campaign, but I have to press on into the 5th, which is much less interesting. Julia Patterson runs a pretty straight positive campaign bio ("I'm a native! I'm experienced! Like the way things are going? Good! I'm doing my job!") while Orin Wells is just a bit - odd. Here's the paragraph that raised my eyebrows:

"In 1773 the "Boston Tea Pary" was staged to protest special tax advantages the British Parliament had given to the East Indian Company, a special interest group. When representitives start passing legislation based more on pressure from special interest groups and their own policial futures than input from the citizens, it is time to make a change."

First off, its the East Indies Company. And calling them a "special interest group" is sort of like calling Microsoft or Boeing a special interest group. Which is true, but they're not normally thought of as such in the conservative playbook. Maybe Wells and Dunn are both secretly "smash the state" radicals? More likely, Mr. Wells needs an editor as well - I think the GOP can swing a group rate (author holds imaginary cell phone to his ear and silently mouths "call me!").

There is a lot on the Port Commissioners, which is a non-partisan post, so you have to read their writeups to figure out if they're really GOP or Democrat under their non-partisan labels. Those that talk about growth and opportunity tend to get developer money and are really GOP, while those that speak of jobs and the environment are part of the Blue-Green alliance and are Democrats. I believe its a "top two" runoff, so I'll worry when I get closer to the final date. You guys can read up on these on your own.

The sheriff's race consists of three cops - ET, Bambi, and ... no, no, I have that wrong. Current Sherriff Sue Rahr was Reichert's assistant and hand-picked replacement, and in many ways this election is a referendum on Reichert's last term as sheriff. Her main opponent is Sgt. Jim Fuda, who I know from the fact that he has the biggest bloody signs I have yet seen in a campaign (I mean, they show up on Google Earth maps), and Lt. Schmidt, who I will confess to knowing nothing. Its another of those "top two" races that the political parties hate when its applied to them, so we'll see two of these names again for the general.

The Kent Mayoral looks interesting, but to be honest our neighborhood around Panther Lake hasn't been swallowed up by the township yet, so like in the 9th, I am missing the ground campain. In general, it feels like a very typical and mostly lackluster primary, but of course, I'm planning on voting, if only to get an idea of the lay of the land for the November ballot. And regardless of where you are, I recommend you do the same. Because somebody has to win these things.

More later,

Big Muddy

According to Looka, the legendary Commander's Palace restaurant has been destroyed. Or it hasn't.

According to China Meiville, Six contractors were shot on a bridge in New Orleans. Or they weren't shot. Or they weren't contractors.

According to the Boing Boing, either the evacuated citizens in the Astrodome are doing well. Or they aren't doing very well at all.

FEMA is either doing a heckuva job or creating a helluva ballsup.

A murk is descending on the American South, a thick miasma of claims and counterclaims. Personal horror stories and political spin are colliding like warm air masses, creating thunderheads of indignation and frustration. A new storm is coming.

FEMA lies at the heart of the storm. There are a whole bunch of stories of volunteers and aid being turned away and resources being ignored. Foreign aid sits on the tarmacs of their home countries. We're even sending people to the wrong cities. FEMA's brass waited until after the storm hit to propose sending help, knowing it would take an addition couple days before to get the show on the road.

We haven't seen so much upper-echelon bungling since M*A*S*H went off the air.

Make your rep worse? Sure. How about leaning on Reuters to censor its reporting on the storm's deathtoll. How about trying to turn a bunch of firemen into public relations operatives, and then get snippy with them when they would rather be fighting fires. And check the last paragraph for the wincing punchline.

I don't think that we understand how huge all this is. This is bigger than just getting people out of the Superdome. We have a huge populace that drove out of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama and are living in motels and with relatives and in government camps, if they're lucky. While a lot of the media attention is on New Orleans, places like Biloxi are getting kicked in the shorts by mismanagement.

Yet through it all, one voice of truth and reason shines through. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Onion.

More later (local politics for sure).