Here's My Story

I finally finished the game. From the previous post , I needed 4 more rulers till the game ended in the year 1453. I managed to increase the score by over 40k since then to a total of 88,555. Quite good considering that best dynasty (the game has a list of historical dynasties with associated individual score) has a score of 100k but then again I was playing on easy difficulty level. By the end of the game, my ruler was Emperor of Britannia, King of Ireland, King of Wales, King of England, King of Andalusia, King of Poland and King of Anatolia. King Gabran the Bold reigned the longest (63 years) while King Zee 1 Mau's reign was the shortest (10 months). The latter died of "Slow Fever". Poor boy. Here was the extent of my territory at the end of the game (marked by the number 12, symbolising the number of rulers): Some of the more significant events since the last post are as follows: 1. After capturing a few more counties in England, I manage

During my Nov trip to Penang , I came across some really interesting stuff such as the following: This Deepavali decoration ("Rangoli") was found at an Econsave store. What attracted me was the sheer size of it and the contrast of bright coloured rice used on a white background (also made with rice). It was unfortunate that a few days later, I saw that its side was slightly disturbed. Humph. These vegetables (lady's finger and long beans) were found just outside a huge wealthy-looking bungalow near where my sister lives. It was my first time seeing lady's finger plant. Incidentally, that area has many huge multi-storey bungalows. So rich.

In Feb this year, I had a cholesterol test and I wasn't happy with it, especially the borderline ratio of total cholesterol to HDL ("good") cholesterol. Since then, I've been taking oat every morning and exercise more regularly (at least twice a week). Although the frequency of exercise fell short of what I hope so (it's hard to motivate oneself to exercise!), the result of the latest cholesterol test this month bore fruit of my labour:                                         Feb 2012      Dec 2012      Ref. range Total cholesterol             5.4               5.5                < 5.2 HDL ("good")                 1.08             1.32              > 1.04 LDL ("bad")                    3.7               3.8                < 2.6 Triglycerides                   1.3               0.8                < 1.7 Total/HDL ratio              5.0               4.2                < 5.0 Although total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol le

Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God? - Epicurus Update: Ron left a comment casting doubt on this quote (conventionally) attributed to Epicurus. Here's what I found from Wikipedia : " This argument was a type favoured by the ancient Greek skeptics , and may have been wrongly attributed to Epicurus by Lactantius , who, from his Christian perspective, regarded Epicurus as an atheist . [ 14 ] It has been suggested that it may actually be the work of an early skeptic writer, possibly Carneades . [ 15 ] According to Reinhold F. Glei , it is settled that the argument of theodicy is from an academic source which is not only not epicurean, but even anti-epicurean. [ 16 ] The earliest extant version of this trilemma appears in the writings of the skeptic Sextus Empiricus . [ 17

There were many games on sale on Steam sometime during the last week of November (autumn sale), ranging from 25% to 75%. Never in my life had I bought that many computer games within a a few days! I, however, managed to stick to my buying games costing no more than USD10. I bought Crusader King 2 for just below USD10 and that entitled me to the main game i.e. none of the DLCs (downloadable content) were included. I didn't purchase any of the DLCs mainly because I wasn't certain whether I would like the game enough to warrant getting its DLCs. Well, it turned out I do like it :) Ban, who purchased it earlier than me, did a quick research over the net and told me that one recommendation for beginner was to start playing as a character in Ireland. We later realised why: Ireland wasn't united as a kingdom then (default starting year is 1066) and thus didn't have a king. Morever, its neighbours, Scotland and England were still settling down as kingdoms (there were stil

Have you met someone who refuses to believe in anything until it's scientifically proven by the relevant expert? I have and they come with varying degree of conviction. I would put myself in this category too but not to the extreme. How extreme? Well, I know someone who seems not willing to entertain the possibility, even a small one, of truth of certain claim without scientific proof. Now, imagine if every single person adopts such attitude. What will happen? Let's take an example. Until centuries ago, everyone believed the Earth is flat. If every person say, "I shall not believe anything contrary to that until someone scientifically prove it wrong", what will happen? No one will be bothered to find out, isn't it? In that case, how will knowledge expand? How will mankind progress?

This is a mouse and not rat, right? It looks too small for a rat. Frankly, I don't know how to differentiate them other than their size and that a rat looks...nastier? *shrug* This mouse was found in the room I slept in at my sister's place. I guessed that it managed to squeezed between the window panels and the insect screen panels. For your information, at that time, I pushed the different panels to different sides. I agreed with my brother-in-law that it looked quite cute but naturally we couldn't have a mouse running around the house, especially with a toddler and a dog in the house It eventually left the room through the window after my bro-in-law pushed the insect screen panels to the right, where the window panels were. From then on, we have to make sure panels are shut.

Once upon a time, in the central region of Peninsular Malaysia, my dad boiled soup made of only flower crab with a little salt and nothing else but boy, it tasted very delicious and completely oil-less! Right away I thought of Ban. He likes watercress soup the best but he doesn't like oil in the soup, even if the oil comes naturally from pork or chicken carcass. He also doesn't like the smell of ikan bilis (anchovy) soup although it's oil-less. See? Such a tough nut to crack, right? So I tried replicating the crab soup. Ban couldn't stand the smell of the fresh crab and had to vacate the kitchen. He, however, did help to slice the bitter gourd. Taking out the carapace was as easy as my parents said it would be. The harder part was chopping its body because I am not good at using a chopper. I fear chopping off my other hand should I use it to hold the food. It's not an unfounded fear because at times the part on the food where the knife connected was signific

As I said before, the internet hadn't been set up at my sister's new place when I was in Penang helping her to move there. So one way I kept myself occupied at night when the couple and their toddler went to bed was to read book. This book was lent to my sister by my other bro-in-law when he and my other sister were down here in Malaysia from Australia a few years ago. It is meant to be an easy reading for people who want to try reading fantasy novel and hence was recommended by my bro-in-law. However, my sister never did get started on it. The story was enganging enough for me to want to read more about it. In fact, on some nights, I read till like 2am - 3am. The story so far promises bigger and better things to come in subsequent books and so this will determine whether I like the series or not. There are some series that disappoint me due to them not fulfilling the expectations that they have (inadvertently or not) created e.g. Tales of Alvin Maker (though apparently

One of the few places we frequent quite regularly for dinner is City Star at Taman Bukit Mayang Emas. Ban normally doesn't like to have Chinese food (regardless of restaurant), including noodle, because they're usually too oily for his liking. He, however, seems to like this vegetarian noodle served there, as he orders it quite regularly (it's either this or rice with stir fried chicken with leek with a fried egg added). I too like this noodle and more likely to order this if I already had meat for lunch. They use wantan noodle and has different kind of vegetables .Its price, though, is a hefty RM7! Compare that to the price of fried lou shu fun (RM6). Moreover, the amount of leafy vegetable is usually not as much as shown in the picture above. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised at the attempt to arrange them in this manner. Despite its price, I would recommend it to anyone to try it at least once. It's appetising.

Hahaha.

I'm sure I'm not an introverted but neither am I an extroverted. I'm probably somewhere in the middle. Ban, however, is clearly an introverted - he couldn't last more than 3 hours interacting with people he knows (much less for strangers). I find the following guide very useful in understanding introverted. Do read it. (If the words are too small to read, right click it and save the image to your computer/laptop and read it. It's worth it.) PS: Please let me know if you know the original source of this guide. Thanks.

This is one of the best konlo lou shu fun I had. It's also value-for-money. I've been wanting to snap a photo of it but I kept forgetting because I just digged in when it arrived :) I like it because it's not too oily; it has generous amount of noodle; there's generous amount and variety of meat (for such noodle) - fishcake, mince meat and fishball; it has sizeable amount of vegetable (for such noodle) - lettuce and beancurd skin; its soup is hardly oily; and it's tasty. It costs only RM4.50, which is typical for such noodle and yet it has much more and it's delicious. It's served by a lady wearing spectacles, manning a 'Fishball Noodle' stall at a small open-air foodcourt just across CIMB Bank which situated at Sunwaymas Commercial Centre. It's also across the Aman Suria gated housing. Incidentally, the stall behind hers, also operated by a lady, has one of the best char kuay teow. I hope I'll remember to take a photo of it

I was absent from the blog for 11 days due to a retreat to a secluded mountain where I meditated and learned about the secret of life from a revered monk. This retreat was rudely interrupted by the appearance of SBB, who told me how long I had been away. I was shocked as it sure didn't feel that long, as days meld into mere hours - very much like Palace of the Prophets in the Sword of Truth series. Ok, enough of this nonsense hehehe. Actually I was away in Penang to help my sister to pack, move and unpack. There was internet at her old place. Typically, I checked e-mails, FB and read news just before and after lunch. After that, I would pack some stuff before packing up my laptop in preparation for dinner. Hence I didn't have time to blog. Internet wasn't set up yet at her new place. There was no newspapers (does this sound like secluded mountain yet? :P ). Thank goodness for Astro Beyond as that allowed me to access to a few news channels. There wasn't any news abo

I stumbled upon this while I was looking up a new Taiwanese series that was being advertised on Astro. It's quite a refresing kind of gay themed drama series. These 2 episodes have scenes that resonate with me:

Since quite some time ago, I brought up the idea of getting our own set of Mage Knight boardgame but Ban wasn't keen because a fellow boardgamer already had it and we managed to play with him maybe on average once a fortnight. I countered that if we had our own set, we could play whenever we liked, instead of relying on the availability of other people. Nevertheless, I didn't get one. However, lately it had been difficult to arrange for a session due to the game's owner busy schedule. Hence, I decided to get a set of my own and Ban agreed to share with me :) A friend of ours is a member of Meeples and he helped us to get one with 10% discount. Yay! The joy, however, turned a little grim as we gradually discovered defects on most of the cards, a map tile and a few tokens :( Our friend guessed that this set was part of the batch subsequent to the first batch and it was probably a rushed job because the game was high in demand. Gah. Upon contacting the owner of Meeples,

The last update done was...3 months ago! I said exactly the same thing 3 months ago lol. Mind you, I didn't set out to update every 3 months. Maybe my biological clock is doing some extra work here :P For Moderate (M) puzzles: I am pleased that there's generally a downward trend (improvement!) in time taken since the last update. What's even more pleasing is that this occured despite a period where I was playing Torchlight 2. Just recently, I did get very close to beat my personal record. Hope to beat it soon :) Unfortunately, for the Tough puzzles, I didn't do so well since the last update. The time taken has crept upward. Hmmm what was I busy with? Torchlight 2 perhaps? I have enough data to show the time taken to complete the Gentle puzzles. There was a discernible improvement midway and then moribund between 10 and 15 mins. The performance with respect to Diabolical puzzles is the one that causes me the most grief because I had to give up 5 t

After having played Torchlight a few years ago, I was eagerly anticipating Torchlight 2, especially when it comes with multiplayer feature - something that's sorely missing in Torchlight. Similar to Torchlight, there is a demo version for Torchlight 2 as well. I was pleasantly surprised because since they had won over many fans with their maiden debut of Torchlight, I thought they wouldn't provide demo version this time. This was fortunate because apparently my laptop's specification did not meet the minimum requirements. So, I thought why not just try out the demo and see how bad the consequence was for not meeting those requirements. Surprise, surprise. It worked quite well on single player, although there was a few lagging moments during multiplayer (especially in the zone Frosted Hills) but overall it was a minor issue. When the demo ended, as expected, I was asked to continue by paying for the game: I laughed when I read the part "For Percy's sake,..

In this game, you are a chef running a Italian restaurant. The winner is the one with the most points and the way you get points are as follows: Cook food with high rating Have the best set of recipe, especially with matching theme Have the best/2nd best dish 'Encourage' VIP critics to go to your restaurant (i.e., as Ban said, bribe them lol) Have the most money at the end of the game Buy wine, especially those that match your food recipe Buy dining tables (yah, your restaurant has no such tables to start with) Buy bonus cards that give additional points To do that, you will need to manage well your resources: money. Money is used to buy ingredients, wine, dining tables and bonus cards. Money is generated from recipe that has been revealed (and therefore the food is on your menu), wine and dining table. Some bonus cards also, effectively, give you ad hoc money. There is a variety of bonus cards besides those that give additional points and money. One type is those

I think the last time I took a ferry to Penang was nearly 2 decades ago @_@ I'm so old already lol. It is still quite enjoyable taking the ferry. Although it takes sometime to cross the sea to the island, time passes by quickly when one is out of the car taking a view of the surrounding or merely just enjoying the wind. For the money-conscious people, it's also cheaper to take the ferry than the bridge. Too bad the dolphins were spotted a few weeks later. I hope to spot some when I'm next on the ferry.

This is the minimum standard I set for good salmon sushi: This salmon sushi was served by Kinpachi at Subang Jaya. Yes, some may say that "Oh, it's at a proper Japanese restaurant. Of course you should get good sushi." Let me say that, posh or not, it's hard to get good salmon sushi in KL. It's mind-boggling. To put into perspective, salmon sushi served by Sakae Sushi, sushi restaurant that targets the masses with relatively cheap sushi, is among the top 5 best in KL in my opinion. I can't find 5 proper Japanese restaurants, fine-dining included, that serve better sushi than Sakae.

One morning, I followed my sister's family to drop by a few places in Georgetown to see the famous Penang street art done by a famous artiste: There were quite a lot of people taking photos with these art. Interactive art in action and being good at it too. We were pretty sure this wasn't done by the same artiste but nevertheless I think it's interesting...and disturbing at the same time. Incredibly lifelike, isn't it? Can you imagine drawing such lifelike impression? No? Hehehe. No-lah, this isn't a drawing. This is a cafe near one of those interactive art. Looks like it doesn't open in the morning.

On my trip to Penang last month, I managed to read this book: It jolted vague memories of me reading books from the series many decades ago and yet I don't recall Alfred Hitchcock's "guest-starring" character in any of them. Is he in every single Three Investigators book?

This type of song is not my usual cup of tea but I absolutely love this particular song.

Hello, yeah, it's been a while Not much, how about you? I'm not sure why I called I guess I really just wanted to talk to you And I was thinking maybe later on We could get together for a while It's been such a long time And I really do miss your smile I'm not talking about moving in And I don't want to change your life But there's a warm wind blowing the stars around And I'd really love to see you tonight We could go walking through a windy park Or take a drive along the beach Or stay at home and watch TV You see it really doesn't matter much to me I'm not talking about moving in And I don't want to change your life But there's a warm wind blowing,the stars are out And I'd really love to see you tonight I won't ask for promises So you don't have to lie We've both played that game before Say I love you and say goodbye I'm not talking about moving in And I don't want to change your li

Writer Peter Boyer (1999) describes how similar misperceptions of risk are fostered by the gun lobby in the United States, which tries to keep the public focused on vivid cases of "intruders" coming through the doors of households. The not-so-subtle subtext here is that you lower your risk by having a gun to protect yourself. Boyer (1999) points to the irony that the gun industry tries to focus attention on "guns in the hands of bad people" when the actual statistics show that the real problem is "guns in the hands of good people". Criminals do not account for most gun deaths in this country. There are actually more suicides with guns than there are homicides with guns. Most gun deaths are unintentional shooting and suicides - which is why research indicates that bringing a gun into a home actually increases family risk (Miller, Azrael, & Hemenway, 2002). - How To Think Straight About Psychology by Keith E. Stanovich

It had been years since I ate in Penang. In fact, if I discount that one plate of char kuay teow ("CKT") I had few years back when I was in transit, then the last time I had proper multiple food dishes in Penang was nearly a decade ago! Unfortunately, I do not know the name of the coffeeshop that served this delicious plate of chee cheong fan and aromatic thick coffee. It was a corner shop along Kimberly Street. The chee cheong fan, unlike the ones I had so far in my life, had prawn paste (used in rojak) as well as the normal sweet sauce. Food and drink were great but what really made my morning was the people working at the shop. They were polite, humble and very helpful. I definitely want to be its regular customer :) This is the famous CKT that my family, especially my sister, rave about. We were asked whether we could wait for an hour for it @_@. It came after 45 mins. It is expensive, costing RM7.50 for the small plate. The plate above was RM9, I think, and

Instead, what is important is to understand the fact that Piaget's case studies did not prove anything but, rather, suggested incredibly fruitful areas for developmental psychologists to investigate. ...... The goal of experimental design is to structure events so that support of one particular explanation simultoneously disconfims other explanations. ...... Case studies and testimonials stand as isolated phenomena. They lack the comparative information necessary to prove that a particular theory or therapy is superior. It is, thus, wrong to cite a testimonial or a case study as support for a particular theory or therapy. Those who do so mislead the public if they do not point out that such evidence is open to a wide range of alternative explanations (emphasis mine) . In short, the isolated demonstration of a phenomenon may be higly misleading. This point can be illustrated more specifically by the example of placebo effects. - 'How To Think Straight About Psychology

I have played this game many times especially during the week where our friend left the game with Ban and I. This benefited us a lot as we spent time discussing rules and strategies. Ban went further and read other people's view online. In fact, he has gotten so good at the game that I dub him the Mage Knight ("MK") God hehe. He's been winning almost every single MK game. This was one of the earlier games we played, I believed, where I won playing Goldyx :) Ban was at 2nd place. Thereafter, Ban has been winning almost every single game, be it just playing with me or with our friends. The above was one of the rare exceptions where I won playing Goldyx again. My score (as indicated by the green token at the top left) was off the chart, so to speak hehe. Below were the units I had. Funny how I don't have photos of the games where I didn't win, eh? ;)

Recently, after spending nearly a week in Penang, I arrived at One Utama. Ban was already there to get me but as agreed beforehand, at my request, we had some food at Ichiro Sushi Bar @ Eat Paradise. The salmon sushi was quite nice but pricey given its portion (but definitely better than the miserable ones at Dontaku!) while the amaebi was the best I had so far in Malaysia. The edamame was fresh and sweet. We took our time eating and chatting, while drinking green tea. Later, we had some gelato elsewhere. It then struck me that it we accidentally went on a date haha :) It was very nice, taking things slowly and chatting. Once at his place, I took a nap shortly as I didn't have a good sleep the night before in Penang. When I woke up and went to the kitchen to get some water, I noticed both rubbish bins were full. I then did my usual complaining to Ban (n.b. this happens nearly each time I come back after being away for a few days). Ban, who was doing some work on his laptop,

...when you have this parenting guide on how to spot gays and lesbians: For gays: Muscular body and a fondness for showing off the body by wearing clothing, such as by wearing V-necks and sleeveless tops A preference for tight and bright coloured clothes An inclination to be attracted to men A tendency to carry big handbags, similar to the kinds used by women For lesbians: Showing attraction to women Distancing themselves from women other than their girlfriends A preference for hanging out, sleeping and dining with women Absence of feelings for men These guidelines were introduced during a seminar in Malaysia, on 12 September 2012, on “Parenting in addressing the issue of LGBTs (lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders)” organised by Yayasan Guru Malaysia Bhd and Putrajaya Consultative Council of Parents and Teachers Association and allegedly endorsed by Malaysia Education of Ministry. At the very least, the seminar was officiated by Deputy Education Mi

Dearest Ban, Happy 3rd anniversary! It has been 3 wonderful years and yet it seems we have been together only for a short while. There have been many ups and downs but definitely more ups than downs. Thanks for loving me and making me laugh every single day when I'm with you. I love you. Muack!

This was published in the June edition of The Actuary magazine. It was my first time seeing such sudoku puzzle. So interesting. It was easier to complete it than I thought. I wish I had done it earlier and submitted my solution for a chance to win a prize hehe.

Couple of weeks ago, Ban told me about Guild Wars 2. A few friends we know were planning to get it (one just did). I even watched a video of a review about it, together with Ban. It seems to be a very promising MMORPG (Ban and I are always on a lookout for games we can play together) and yet it's subscription-free! Unfortunately my laptop's specification does not meet the minimum system requirement. Incidentally, my laptop doesn't meet minimum or recommended requirement for Diablo 3, Skyrim and Batman: Arkham City. Lol. Oh well. I sure not going to purposely buy new laptop just to play games. Besides, I'm focusing on accumulating money after spending tonnes on renovating the house my parents are staying in and also repair of the apartment in Singapore. With the advent of subscription-free MMORPG, there's murmuring about the death of subscription-based MMORPG. Out of curiousity, I checked Everquest to see. To my great surprise, it is still alive! In addition, in

For the pen & paper games that Ban and I are in (Ironclaw and Dungeons & Dragons (D&D)), they were used to be held at Mage Cafe. However, the owner of the shop decided to take back the shop and the operator (a very nice lady) just wanted to concentrate on her catering and soap business. So the hunt was on for alternative venue for the D&D games (Ironclaw had concluded few months ago). For the games that we're in, Ban offered his apartment as a venue. Our initial concern was the number of people but the first try went rather well in my opinion. In addition, we have also been playing Mage Knight (incidentally, we do not own that game; a friend's friend does) with some friends at Ban's place as well. As a beneficial side effect, I have been sweeping and cleaning most parts of the apartment each time before guests arrive as it can get really dusty here. I know I could just do it on a smaller area e.g. the kitchen and the dining table where the game is held

One day, while Ban and I were playing Mage Knight with a friend... Me: Can I do this, this and that so that I can have such and such effects? Ban: If you do that, then that and that will happen. Me: Huh? So I can lah. Ban: Yes, but then ruff ruff ruff ruff. Me: Oh, I understand. So meow meow meow meow lah. Ban: No, you don't understand. Ruff ruff ruff ruff! Me: Comes to the same thing mah. Meow meow meow meow, right? Ban: Gah, nevermind. Me: Meow? Friend: You guys are on different wavelength lah. Ban: Yah, it's like dog talking with a cat. *did puppetry with his hands conjuring imaginary conversation between a dog and a cat* Me: *LOL*

Which boardgame did you take the longest time to complete? Some games can be very long if followed traditionally e.g. Monopoly and Risk where the standard way of completing the game is to have one single winner. Others can be completed in a short time especially if players are experienced e.g. Blokus. I don't usually time the boardgames I play. If I ever play games such as Monopoly or Risk, I would only play them with some house rules so as to speed things up e.g. the game ends when 1 player goes bankrupt in Monopoly. That was until I played Eclipse recently. That took around 3 hours, 4 hours? I couldn't remember because that quickly was overtaken by the next game: Mage Knight. Three of us took a glorious 8 hours to complete the full conquest scenario @_@ Ok, ok. To be fair, we were all fairly new players to that. It was only our 4th time for Ban and I and the 3rd time for a friend of ours. But still... Mage Knight is a game where you play as a conqueror in a fantasy

At the beginning Mozzies were common unwelcome visitors at Ban's place. At first, we this this electrical device that supposedly could repel insects (or, at higher setting, rats). Failed miserably. Made in China. Partial victory Next, we tried using Repel MOS from Causway i.e. a repellant made of lemongrass, I believed. It worked 50% of the time during the day but it was no match fo night time mozzies. We had to close all doors at dusk. This made his place a little stuffy and hot. Since I didn't like using aircon (not good for my sinus and throat), we used a standing fan, which incidentally also helped to repel mozzies. Juncture When both of us were infected with dengue fever one after another (about 2 months apart), Ban resolved to get insect screens installed in his place. Meanwhile, we closed doors even earlier i.e. at 4pm and would be earlier if it was raining. I notice mozzies love coming indoor when it rains. After much procrastination that ended with a show of f

Introduction I dub my sisters and I "Planners". People may mistaken us as control freaks but they are misguided. Our actions are a result of us being Planners. Who are Planners? We plan for the future. Not only for the next 1 or 2 steps but several steps ahead, at the very least. Sometimes we plan for decades ahead. We not only plan to achieve goals that are beneficial for our loved ones and us but also plan for actions to be taken should adverse incidents happen to thwart those goals. I'm not alluding to incidents with small probability ala earthquake in Malaysia but incidents with significant probabilities and mostly those with at least 50% chance of happening. Mind you, when presented with evidence that our goal is no longer desirable, we do not hesitate to change it or dump it. We are not that stubborn. Example A simple example: if I know I'll be out for at least 1.5 hours, I will bring a small backpack containing the following (with their reasons written

His death taught me that if I had an residual feelings of discomfort that he was gay, they didn't matter two hoots compared with losing him. I'd like people to think about that. Death sure puts things into context for you. - Anne Gregory, writing about her gay son who died about 8 years after he came out to her.

After having hosted a few sessions of DnD and played many sessions of games hosted by other GMs, I conclude that it is very useful for every player to try hosting a game, even for a short while. This would enable them to see from a GM's point of view and hopefully helps the games go smoother too. A GM prepares the following (1) The main and minor storylines that then provide 'quests' (2) The various encounters, both combat and off-combat (3) Setting scenes e.g. the environment, village, NPCs, sound, smell (4) Enemies of the PCs (5) Appropriate maps (6) Alternate/backup plans (this probably causes the most grief) A GM also has to manage players to ensure the game goes as smoothly as possible. The most ostentatious behaviour is the disruptive one e.g. player arguing over rules, questioning his team mates actions all the time, making his character doing very disruptive actions in-game. The player may meant well (likely trying to get his party to have highest chance

Recently, I received an e-mail from AllOut.org: Russian leader Vladimir Putin is on a rampage against human rights. Friday morning we learned that Putin's courts formally banned Pride marches for 100 years in Moscow . Then the news broke that anti-gay activists are using the government's gay gag laws to sue Madonna for $10,000,000 in "moral damages" because she spoke up for gay Russians in a concert this week. If that wasn't enough,  punk band Pussy Riot was sentenced just this morning to two years in prison  for speaking out against the government. The judge cited "homosexual propaganda" as one reason to bring the hammer down on the three young women - two of them moms. Enough is enough. In days Putin is going to be face to face with all the leaders of the world at a high profile, media packed United Nations Meeting in New York.   If we move fast, we can ignite a global media firestorm that embarrasses Putin's government and gets h

This is the 3rd sudoku puzzle I couldn't solve and, understandably, they are all from the Diabolical category. I gave up after 1hr 15 mins, especially it was already lunch time. I'm not satisfied with how I solved most of the Diabolical puzzles because it usually involved guessing, rather than strategy. Humph!