Third Times the Charm.

Third Times the Charm.


They had been watching for  a long time, debating on whether or not to do it. Factions argued and debated, pondering the flaws compared to the merits. Every point carefully sifted and measured. The reasons were many, as were the reasons not to. This was not taken lightly.

At the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the process sped up. The luxury of millennia was over. A decision had to be made.

Less than a hundred years passed before Judgment was rendered.

The Vampire Moloch.

This is how I wrote the background and history for a Vampire: Dark Ages character, where the stated campaign plan was to eventually bring the characters all the way into present times. I now have him as a loose cannon villain in my World of Darkness  games. A homeless, tragic, monster.

(for those who don't know, all player characters in this game are vampires, and a recurring theme of the game revolves around how to retain some shred of humanity when you are a monster)

((this parchment was found in a buried clay pot near the Thames River in 1780, along with some coins, some silver throwing spikes, and a box full of lockets of hair, ribbons, and trinkets))

Moloch tells Mortal this so Moloch can remember.

Moloch talks. Mortal writes.

Dr Niklaus’s wondrous device

This is an item created for the Pencil and paper RPG "Mage the Ascension"


I played Dr Niklaus as a character for years, then eventually retired him. He is now a recurring NPC in my World of Darkness game, as a mentor to many members of the Sons of Ether. I recently had a chance to play a less powerful version of him in a game with friends, and had a blast.


“At last!” Niklaus careened wildly down the hall, lab coat flapping behind him. “I’ve built it!” he cradled the object in his hand like a precious baby bird. “Six months of labor! Manufacturing techniques so radical I’d need patents on the methods used to describe the patents!” His thick goggles twinkled as he ricocheted into the meeting room, and there in front of the assembly proudly set his creation down for all to see.

The others at the table stopped everything with a mild exasperation, and duly noted the latest invention. No one spoke. They looked at each other, then back at the small, unremarkable object on the table.

After a moment, the large, hirsute member of the board spoke first.

“It’s a paperclip.” stated Eats-all-the-food. His eyebrows nearly touching his nose in concentration.

On Religion (A Poem, about Eggs)

On Religion

"Be like the egg," the prophet said

"The egg shall show you the way.

I've taught you everything I know.

I’ve said the things I need to say."

"But what's to learn about an egg?"

the people ranted, screamed and pleaded,

But the prophet had already left,

their questions left unheeded.

So the people scattered far and wide

they searched all eggs for hints and clues

Some chose to meditate, and pray

and some old scrolls perused.

MK-1 robot arm

MK-1 robot arm, getting very dexterous.

507 mechanical movements, 3d printed

I was learning how to use google sketch up. Mostly because I want to really understand how it works, but also because I have some invention ideas I'm wanting to flesh out and see if they would really work.

A book I bought a while ago is 507 mechanical movements.  While playing with sketchup I realized a perfect thing to upload into public domain would be working models of each and every illustration in the book. If they were uploaded in a format that could be resized on demand, and could be easily linked together, then people could put together fantastic contraptions litterally by dragging and dropping them into the things they wanted to make.


I gleefully began to prepare myself... and then discovered two things.

One. I suck.

Sketchup is not exactly like drawing. It's going to take me a LONG time, and a lot of practice before I can start making the things I want to make. I now have a much stronger appreciation for the things found in thingiverse. What they are doing isn't easy.

Two. Someone is already doing it

 Alex Schlegel, I applaud you.


I'd love to see a compilation created of each and every one of these incredible machines made so anyone can access them. Is anybody else working on something like this? I'd love to see it.

Turritopsis Nutricula

Everybody should have a favorite word. For many years mine was Endoplasmic Reticulum.

When I was ten, I used to imagine this as a magical phrase that banished ignorance and replaced it with scientific wisdom... In my overactive daydreams, I would (for instance) see a group of people talking about a house being haunted, and I'd hold my calculator in one hand, and my magnifying glass on a stick in the other, then point the heavy end at them and shout "Endoplasmic..... Reticulum!" Suddenly the group would realize the house was not in fact haunted, the magic of my scientific incantation would cause them to realize it was just in bad shape and falling apart!

Of course, once I was in high school. I had pretty much realized that making a magic spell to instill logic and reason was both hypocritical and a bit counter productive.... but hey... I was ten. I still love that word though, and the thought process it represents to me.

I have a new one now. "Turritopsis Nutricula". And I have a new incantation to go with it.

It's a little jellyfish about the size of a dried pea. But it has a neat trick that no other form of life so far seems to possess. It can revert from a fully sexually mature stage, to a sexually immature colonial stage, and back again.

It can grow younger.

Because of this trick, it may be immortal. We don't know enough to be sure.




The incantation in my mind involves holding onto a hand-held globally networked pocket computer in one hand, (my phone will do nicely), and  a model of this little Jellyfish in the other as I shout "Turritopsis..... Nutricula!" while pointing it at someone who has grown lifeless, dull, and set in his ways....  In my mind I imagine the incantation to shock them into realizing how weird and magical the world really is, and how much... How.... Freakin'.... Much..... we don't know, and what we can learn.... if we try.

Exciting stuff

I've had a short story accepted by "The Tomorrow Project" Its a collection that is being put out by the University of Washington, and the Intel corporation...

The basic deal is they were asking for science fiction stories that would highlight some of the new technology they are currently working on.

I submitted three stories, and one got accepted. I'm not sure how long before the book gets published, but wow... suddenly I'm a writer.

When I got the Google+ early adopter invite, I ended up hunting down a lot of writers I like and putting them into my circles. One of them, Jody Swaney has put out an open call to create a collection of short stories using the new google+ as a core collaboration tool... with all proceeds going to charity. Essentially a way to test what this puppy can do. He's gotten quite a bit of interest, and multiple people are now actively and enthusiastically working on this.

I stepped up as a writer, my wife volunteered to assist with proofreading.

Now, I'm sharing some of my stories with this group, and reading a lot stories not yet published, and meeting people who will be editing, illustrating, proof reading and organizing the whole thing. It's incredible.

So, I have gone from nothing, to having one story being published, and being involved in a project to create a short story collection... all in an incredibly short amount of time.


Stay tuned.

Why I'm blogging less this week

I'm spending so much time on google+ that my blog has suffered.

I'm following the writers of many of my favorite websites, seeing the amazing things these people have to say in a real time stream.

A  fast moving current where, at any time, I can dive deep, swim down to the bottom, find a shiny thing, pull it out and show it to everyone still riding on the surface. A short discussion on what was found, and then I'm looking at someone else's shiny find.

A couple of  recent gems:

Volkswagon is making a car with an "autopilot"

An article about how RPG's are not necessarily escapism from unhappy lives. with a fantastic and completely unrelated pic.











I'm going to  go swim some more.

3d printing from minecraft files

From Geek.com
make something cool in minecraft. Use this minecraft add on program to define the cool thing. Export it to a standard STL file. A 3d printer can now make that cool thing.