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Recent Posts
- Swordplay: Context is Everything
- A New Sidesword for Me!
- Review: Pegasus Bridge
- New Year’s Resolutions Waste My Time
- The Blogging Year Ahead 2012
- Separation of Church and State in Australia
- My Blog’s Year-in-Review
- Book Review: On Killing
- Dall’Agocchie’s Essential Actions
- City in the Dust: A Story Setting?
- Magnatune: Get Your Early Music Here
- Summary of Meyer’s Rapier System
Popular Posts
- Camillo Agrippa, Part The First
- My French Exam – DELF B1
- Gmail Contacts Won’t Sync on Android Phone
- The Blogging Year Ahead 2012
- A New Sidesword for Me!
- New Year’s Resolutions Waste My Time
- Dall’Agocchie’s Essential Actions
- My Blog’s Year-in-Review
- Separation of Church and State in Australia
- Swordplay: Context is Everything
- City in the Dust: A Story Setting?
- Homemade Dusacks
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Magnatune: Get Your Early Music Here
Posted on 25 November, 2011 | No CommentsMagnatune is a record label which only publishes online. You can't get music from them in CD format but you can make yourself an account for either downloading or for streaming their artists. For me, this is where I get my fill of early, medieval, renaissance, baroque and lute music. (At this point, I predict half of you have stopped reading and the other half have pricked up your ears. There's plenty of other music and genres from folk to industrial and metal available. Keep reading.) -
Summary of Meyer’s Rapier System
Posted on 18 November, 2011 | 1 CommentI've finally come to the end of my explorations of the rapier chapter of Joachim Meyer's Art of Combat (1570). I'm presenting here my notes on Meyer's rapier system (PDF) for public appraisal. Maybe I've learned something new about his rappers technique. Maybe I'm on the wrong track entirely. Thoughts, comments and criticism is, as always, greatly appreciated. -
![<p>For the last week or so I’ve been tearing my hair out trying to get my Gmail contacts to sync with my HTC Desire phone. It failed every time with the wonderfully descriptive error message “sync is currently experiencing problems.” Here’s the fix that worked for me.</p>
<p>For a start, check all the basics. Ensure you have connectivity and that all your account details are correct. Toggle the auto-sync settings. These may fix the problem for you.</p>
<p>But if they don’t, take a look at this post on the Google Support forum. In paticular, look for this comment by “ […]</p>](http://sleech.info/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/category-random2-115x115.jpg "Gmail Contacts Won’t Sync on Android Phone")
Gmail Contacts Won’t Sync on Android Phone
Posted on 11 November, 2011 | No CommentsFor the last week or so I’ve been tearing my hair out trying to get my Gmail contacts to sync with my HTC Desire phone. It failed every time with the wonderfully descriptive error message “sync is currently experiencing problems.” Here’s the fix that worked for me.
For a start, check all the basics. Ensure you have connectivity and that all your account details are correct. Toggle the auto-sync settings. These may fix the problem for you.
But if they don’t, take a look at this post on the Google Support forum. In paticular, look for this comment by “ […]
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![<p>Today my beautiful twin girls, Charlotte and Marianne, would have been three years old. </p>
<p>Happy birthday, my loves. […]</p>](http://sleech.info/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/category-children-115x115.jpg "Happy Birthday, Charlotte and Marianne")
Happy Birthday, Charlotte and Marianne
Posted on 9 November, 2011 | No CommentsToday my beautiful twin girls, Charlotte and Marianne, would have been three years old.
Happy birthday, my loves. […]
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Anaesthetic and Time Travel
Posted on 4 November, 2011 | 1 CommentTwo months ago I tore the medial meniscus cartilage in my knee. Yesterday I had an arthroscopy operation to clean up the ragged bits in order to get me back to full activity. This post is a few notes on the experience which show that Einstein was right and that everything depends on the frame of reference of the observer.
The weirdest aspect of going in for surgery is the disconnect between the hospital and medical staff and me and I suppose other patients). This is not to say that I’m unhappy with my treatment – I’m very satisfied. The […]
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![<p>I’ve found a rather nifty set of rules for rapier tournaments by RedStar Fencing in Chicago. Of the many points of interest is that this rules set has come out of a modern fence club rather than an historical fencing school. Even more amazing is that all the cumbersome and artifical modern electronic scoring kit is not required.</p>
<p>Before I get stuck in, here’s a copy of the rules: Lancet Fencing Modern Rapier Rules (PDF)</p>
<p>The first thing I like about these rules is their simplicity. There are priority (head and sword arm) and non-priority (everywhere else) target areas. If […]</p>](http://sleech.info/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/category-fencing2-115x115.jpg "Lancet Fencing Modern Rapier Rules")
Lancet Fencing Modern Rapier Rules
Posted on 28 October, 2011 | 1 CommentI’ve found a rather nifty set of rules for rapier tournaments by RedStar Fencing in Chicago. Of the many points of interest is that this rules set has come out of a modern fence club rather than an historical fencing school. Even more amazing is that all the cumbersome and artifical modern electronic scoring kit is not required.
Before I get stuck in, here’s a copy of the rules: Lancet Fencing Modern Rapier Rules (PDF)
The first thing I like about these rules is their simplicity. There are priority (head and sword arm) and non-priority (everywhere else) target areas. If […]
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When Did My Job Become a Career?
Posted on 21 October, 2011 | No CommentsWhen did the job I took because it paid the bills and gave me some cash to blow on books and movies turn into a career with goals and a five (or so) year plan? Is this something that happens to everyone as they age (I prefer the term ‘mature’) or am I the odd one out? Maybe this is just something that happens to you if you hang around the same field of endeavour for a long time. There are several events which could mark this change. One of them may hold the key to the mystery or they […]
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![<p>Until AusCon II (October 2011), it had been about five to six years since I last presented a roleplaying scenario. Before then, I’d been running con games regularly since 1990. I found that the design principles I used to use (waaaaay back then) don’t seem to cut it any more. Here’s the way I’ll be approaching future convention scenarios.</p>
Think Inside the Box
<p>Linear plots just plain don’t work. A linear plot is one that relies on scene A leading to scene B leading to scene C, etc. In an environment in which you have limited time to finish the […]</p>](http://sleech.info/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/category-gaming-115x115.jpg "Lessons from AusCon II")
Lessons from AusCon II
Posted on 14 October, 2011 | No CommentsUntil AusCon II (October 2011), it had been about five to six years since I last presented a roleplaying scenario. Before then, I’d been running con games regularly since 1990. I found that the design principles I used to use (waaaaay back then) don’t seem to cut it any more. Here’s the way I’ll be approaching future convention scenarios.
Think Inside the BoxLinear plots just plain don’t work. A linear plot is one that relies on scene A leading to scene B leading to scene C, etc. In an environment in which you have limited time to finish the […]
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AusCon II – Return of the Native
Posted on 7 October, 2011 | 2 CommentsHere’s a couple of reflections on AusCon II – Convention for Nerds and Dorks which was held over the weekend of October 1-2 in Brisbane, Australia. I came out of retirement for this con to run a Space 1889 adventure, The Deathless Hordes of Mars (PDF). First, some general impressions: there was pretty well something for everyone at AusCon. I was there for the roleplaying (natch) but there was miniature gaming downstairs (where 40k players belong), stalls for various game merchants and associated gamer services, […] -
![<p>Here’s what shits me about post-modernism and post-modernists:</p>
<strong>By de-privileging grand narratives, all narratives are privileged, even the inherently stupid ones.</strong>
<p>I get the notion of the arbitrariness of privilege and the cultural, class, gender, etc specificity of any particular grand narrative. I really do. But just because that may be true, it doesn’t follow that anything you have to say is worth listening to. Only under the notion of all points of view being equally valid can, say, creation science or climate change denial, get a look in. If science is just another narrative no different from any other […]</p>](http://sleech.info/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/category-random1-115x115.jpg "Post-Modernism: I Refute It Thus")
Post-Modernism: I Refute It Thus
Posted on 30 September, 2011 | No CommentsHere’s what shits me about post-modernism and post-modernists:
By de-privileging grand narratives, all narratives are privileged, even the inherently stupid ones.I get the notion of the arbitrariness of privilege and the cultural, class, gender, etc specificity of any particular grand narrative. I really do. But just because that may be true, it doesn’t follow that anything you have to say is worth listening to. Only under the notion of all points of view being equally valid can, say, creation science or climate change denial, get a look in. If science is just another narrative no different from any other […]