I recently heard about the SyFy TV Series, “The Expanse,” with a close friend of mine mentioning that it was very well worth watching. When I learned that the show was based on a series of books, I found myself in something of a dilemma – do I make the time to read the books and then watch the series, or do I find time to watch the series and then read the books? Continue reading Read the Book or Watch the Series?
All posts by The Plaid Mentat
Netrunner: New Angeles
A handful of the guys at the shop recently pitched together and bought me a copy of Netrunner: New Angeles. I’ve had my eye on this game for a while, but never picked it up because while it looked really interesting to me, I didn’t think I would be able to get enough other interest to fill out the four player minimum. That being said, the day I got it, we got a six player game in, so I think it may have the interest. Continue reading Netrunner: New Angeles
Cool Geniuses on TV
I mentioned in my post about The Librarians that I felt there was a lack of cool geniuses on TV these days. When I started thinking about it though, there were a few that I did like, so I wanted to call them out and say what worked for me. Continue reading Cool Geniuses on TV
The Demon Awakens
A long while back, I saw The Demonwars series by R. A. Salvatore on audio book on the Humble Book Bundle. Now, I really like this series, so I picked it up even though I already own a copy of the physical books. A few weeks back, when I was looking for something to listen to on my way to Grand Junction, I stumbled across the MP3s; even though I didn’t listen to them on the trip (I had a passenger then), I dropped them in one afternoon while I was hanging around the house, and in a little more than a week, I had listened through the entire first book. Continue reading The Demon Awakens
Pathfinder ACG: Burnt Offerings
I recently finished the Burnt Offerings adventure – the first adventure in the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path. In it, we gutted a goblin, strung up a sorcerer, destroyed a druid, and clocked a cleric; all of it to keep the people of Sandpoint safe. My decklists and a blurb about the defeat of Ripnugget and Stickfoot below. Continue reading Pathfinder ACG: Burnt Offerings
Independence Day: Resurgence
I recently watched Independence Day: Resurgence with the full expectation of a hilariously bad sequel twenty years late. I picked it up from the $12.00 rack at Wal-Mart, which is about my threshold for “Huh, this movie could be bad.” While it wasn’t all bad, Independence Day: Resurgence suffered from a lot of issues which I’ll discuss after the break. Continue reading Independence Day: Resurgence
Gray Lensman
I recently finished reading Gray Lensman by E. E. “Doc” Smith – the next book in the Lensman series. Like Galactic Patrol, this book focuses on Kimball Kinnison (the titular Gray Lensman), but I actually liked this one better than its predecessor, for reasons I will discuss after the fold. Continue reading Gray Lensman
The Librarians
I recently finished watching The Librarians as my show-with-evening-meal show. It was enjoyable and lighthearted, and managed to capture the bombasticness of The Librarian (who did happen to show up on occasion) into a cast of many, which I wasn’t sure that they would be able to pull off. I think the thing that bugged me the most though, was the reliance on such harsh smart-person stereotypes. Continue reading The Librarians
Linearly Related Units and Significant Digits
Last week, I made the claim that the significant digits of a measurement are not dependent on the units that you use to measure. Today, I want to look at this from the point of view of units that are linearly related to each other, and I’m going to start with even more specificity and look only at units that are multiplicatively related (for example, this class excludes Fahrenheit to Celsius conversion) using the rules of significant digits. Continue reading Linearly Related Units and Significant Digits
Keeping a Positive Attitude
I’ve been struggling lately to keep a positive outlook about my life. In the past, I used to brush off negative emotions, people, and events as transient, as the main flow of my life was positive and the rest didn’t matter. I liked where my life was and where it was going. Lately though, I’ve been extremely unhappy with my life, and so it’s a struggle to focus on the good and not get dragged down by the negative. Continue reading Keeping a Positive Attitude