Daily Illuminator Archive for July 2003

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July 1, 2003:

Ogre Diceland Is Out!

What do you get when you combine James Ernest's neat Diceland game with the dark and explosive world of Ogre? Duh . . . read article

July 2, 2003:

Origins 2003

This was my first visit to the Columbus incarnation of Origins. It went pretty well! . . . read article

July 3, 2003:

GURPS Iron GM

Origins 2003 was, for me, a hoot. From what I have heard, everyone who attended Steve Jackson Games' events had a great time and walked away with "something," be it a game they won, a supplement, or a bookmark . . . read article

July 4, 2003:

Illuminated Site of the Week: A Frank Discussion About Art

Unless you can read Japanese, you won't understand a word of it . . . read article

July 5, 2003:

The First One Sank Into The Swamp. The Second One . . .

There's a guy who has been building a castle in Florida. No, he's not using Cardboard Heroes Castles; he's using old printing plates . . . read article

July 6, 2003:

The New York Times Discovers Transhumanism

And they're not sure what to do about it. Here's the Nicholas Kristof column . . . read article

July 7, 2003:

Pthank You, Pterry!

Our thanks go out to Terry Pratchett, author of the Discworld series! At Origins, he was kind enough to sign 10 copies each of the Discworld RPG and Discworld Also . . . read article

July 8, 2003:

The Telescope Works Both Ways

Some bright people at MIT have figured out that if the U.S. government plans to increase intelligence-gathering operations on its own citizens, there's no reason at all that U.S. citizens shouldn't be gathering intelligence on the government . . . read article

July 9, 2003:

Pail-eolithic Explorers

At a park in Ohio, all you need to hunt for fossils is a bucket and a willingness to get dirty. Here's the CNN story . . . read article

July 10, 2003:

Now Shipping!

Some of these titles are already on your local game store shelves, and the rest will be there very, very soon. Check them out! Munchkin Fu If you loved Munchkin . . . look out . . . read article

July 11, 2003:

Illuminated Site of the Week: ...And If It's A Girl, Kumquat

Maybe they're bored. Maybe they're drunk . . . read article

July 12, 2003:

Errata Mailing List

In response to many requests, we have started a mailing list for announcements of new errata posted to our website. It should (we hope!) be a very low-volume list . . . read article

July 13, 2003:

D20 Weekly Authors

If you wrote articles for the late and lamented d20 Weekly, and you have not been paid for those articles, please contact Cyndy with the name of your article, the issue in which it appeared, the word count, and whether you prefer a check or a merchandise voucher. She will look into it for you and we'll proceed from there . . . read article

July 14, 2003:

People Who Should Not Ask Us For Jobs

Which is rather the point of this cartoon, yes, but it bears repeating. Please, if your resume looks like that, don't bother writing -- we don't have work for someone with your, uh, unique talents . . . read article

July 15, 2003:

San Diego Comic-Con

From Thursday through Sunday this week, Phil Reed and I will be at the San Diego Comic-Con, the biggest comics convention in the country. I have never been there before, so it was a compliment to be invited as one of their guests of honor! . . . read article

July 16, 2003:

Same To You!

We'll just assume that this is not an editorial comment from the Almighty . . . . . read article

July 17, 2003:

October Releases

Steve Jackson Games has announced the following products for an October, 2003 release: Dork Tower Now you can play John Kovalic's Dork Tower characters . . . as they play their characters . . . in a magical quest for the ultimate prize where no strategy is too low, no player too Munchkiny, and no rule is safe! Adventure through the land of Aurora, smiting monsters and growing in power, until you are strong enough to challenge the evil wizard in his tower . . . read article

July 18, 2003:

Illuminated Site of the Week: Fer Yer Comput-Arrr

Why bother with a full system setup if you use an economy of language to begin with? . . . read article

July 19, 2003:

France Bans E-Mail!

People working for the French government will no longer be able to send or receive e-mail, according to CNN . . . read article

July 20, 2003:

Server Maintenance Today!

We will be updating software on the webserver during the afternoon today (July 20). This will mean some downtime and strange behavior as we get everything sorted out . . . read article

July 21, 2003:

The Golden Rule Applied

Or, "Get others to do unto you what they were hoping you would do unto them." By now, everyone should be aware of the so-called "Nigerian" or "419" scam, where for a modest investment, you too can partake in the MILLIONS OF US$ looted from some small African country in the throes of upheaval. Scam-o-Rama is a site dedicated to all the permutations of this scam, including tips for not being taken, stories of those who were taken, and interchanges of varying humorousness between would-be scammers and wouldn't-be scammees . . . read article

July 21, 2003:

Pardon The Dust . . .

The scheduled maintenance performed yesterday was a little rocky, but has ended well. However, due to some of the changes made, you might notice some problems . . . read article

July 21, 2003:

Back Online, In Two Senses

Yes, our site was unreachable for a while last night, as Sage worked on the server upgrade we announced Saturday . . . read article

July 22, 2003:

Back! And Now Shipping . . .

First: Yes, indeed, the zine newsgroups may still be down as you read this. If they are, we're working on it . . . read article

July 23, 2003:

San Diego Report

This was my first San Diego Comic-Con. Wow . . . read article

July 24, 2003:

Reschedule For [FNORD]

If you're a Pyramid subscriber and you ordinarily get your fix of articles at the end of the week, you may want to move up your reading plans for this week's issue (7/25/03). Like, say, before Monday, 11:59PM EST . . . read article

July 25, 2003:

Illuminated Site of the Week: ...Signifying Nothing

American Technology Corporation is on the cutting edge of audio developments. They make woofers and speakers . . . . . read article

July 26, 2003:

And I Signed, And Signed, And Signed . . .

Today is that happy day that comes only four times a year . . . royalty payment day. And it came a little bit sooner than usual today, because the business office crew got everything sorted out, and the checks printed, almost a full week before the end of the month . . . read article

July 27, 2003:

Yes, But Does He Get Comps For Playtesting This Stuff?

This guy is a prime example of why life just isn't fair . . . read article

July 28, 2003:

Illuminated Spam?

Spam evolution is clearly headed in very strange directions. This one got past my spam filter, but I'm at a loss to find out what they're selling ... if anything . . . read article

July 29, 2003:

The Iraq Situation Is Unsettled

Our local Iraq situation, that is. Target: Iraq has been removed from the schedule for now. Note: "removed from the schedule" is not a euphemism for "cancelled." It means "OK, it won't come out when we thought it would, and we don't feel comfortable just announcing a month's delay, so you no longer see it on the Upcoming Products pages." The problem is basically this: the first draft rules that we received would have done SPI proud . . . read article

July 30, 2003:

Pass The Liver . . . And The Kidneys

Scientists at M.I.T. and Harvard have developed a new process that uses nanotech to help support the growth of functional human organs in the laboratory. That brings us one step closer to Transhuman Space . . . . . read article

July 31, 2003:

Oldest Planet Yet

Scientists have discovered a gas giant about 2-1/2 times the size of Jupiter circling a distant pulsar. Named Methuselah, the planet is estimated to be 12.5 billion years old (by comparison, Earth is considered to be only 4.5 billion years old or so . . .) . . . read article

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