Empress of Mars: Undisputed @zebratron2084@awoo.space

People of Earth is such a good series. Great ensemble sitcom, great detective story, great piece of New Sincerity. Season 2 is absolutely freaking gripping and I'm the edge of my seat for the next installment.

Toyfolk, please note who the heroes are in this fantasy boardgame...

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/233312/stuffed-fables

(link fixed; no login s/b required!)

Toyfolk, please note who the heroes are in this fantasy boardgame...

https://boardgamegeek.com/image/3697029/stuffed-fables?size=original

I called Peg a harpy in my "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" voice, and she said "I love you too."

It's nice to have someone who understands you. (You insolent cow! Our son is NEVER coming home from boarding school, you hear me?! *drinks heavily* )

They finally added my recommendations to our task guidelines at work!

o/` LOOKS LIKE WE'VE MADE IT... o/`

Oh goooooooods it's so weird and awesome and awkward being addressed as an equal by my boss and boss-in-law. They're actually asking me for my opinions about things and LISTENING to them.

My ego has no precedent whatsoever for processing this sort of thing. x_x

If I'm not careful, I'm going to get an Inspector Javert sort of reputation among my coworkers. I am just far too good at uncovering their hidden sins. XD

God damn it.

I tinkered with adding a fourth axis to that politi-cube to represent Violence/Pacifism...

...and now I just really really miss Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. :|

I keep hearing the social engineering models in Stellaris are pretty amazing. I really need to break down and get over the learning curve for that game.

I miss little selector screens. I miss shopping for civics. :(

(Or Avon from Blake's 7, who is my favorite kind of villain, my favorite kind of anti-hero, and my least favorite kind of real-world company...)

(In fact, maybe a better example of a right-wing authoritarian who was on the "flexible/eristic" side of the Dogma axis would be Prince Machiavelli. And oh my god, my opinions about that guy are complicated and would not fit into 5000, let alone 500 characters...)

(On the other hand, I had to pick Tolkien because it took a HELL of a long time to come up with anything approximating right-wing authoritarian who [a] wasn't necessarily that puritanically dogmatic and [b] I didn't instantly want to stab in the face with a dinner fork. The point's not so much that I'm fond of any right-wingers, so much as I *also* dislike a whole lot of dogmatic leftists. :) )

(Let's put it this way: while I'm not especially fond of right-wing authoritarian J.R.R. Tolkien, I'd rather hang out with him than, I dunno, Valerie Solanas or Cinque Mtume any day...)

I'd love to be able to add a third axis to the classic left-right/authoritarian-libertarian political compass:

Dogmatism.

I feel every bit as removed from highly dogmatic people as I do from highly authoritarian people. I don't trust people who think that their choice of cause is more important, morally speaking, than the way they pursue it.

BTW, "puzzle game with the dog" (aka "Fidel Dungeon Rescue") turned out to be a much deeper game than I was prepared for. I really recommend it, like $9 on Steam.

This is one of my favorite podcast episodes of all time, came up in a random article:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvITy3rTfyM

It's long, and CW: Abusive Religious Cult and whatnot, but... If you can stand to listen to Andy Daly pretend to be a scumbag like L. Ron Hubbard for an hour, you'll get a pretty damn funny crash course in how narcissists manipulate language and history.

It feels pretty timely.

Oh, just to bring you all down to my low level of productivity:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/573170/Fidel_Dungeon_Rescue/

Haha, whatever else is true about my work tonight, at least I'm highly engaged and it will go fast.

'Cause somebody's about to get a mild hoofing. :)

"OK, Kin, everything is set up, you're back from your errand, everything is perfect for you to sit back down and work on your day jNO NOT THE PUZZLE GAME WITH THE DOG GOD DAMN IT KIN"

Blergh.

The new work responsibilities are definitely a good exercise in "YES ZEBRA YOU HAVE TO MAKE YOUR BRAIN WRITE EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE ANY FOCUS."

Here's hoping some of it rubs off on Parallax -- I'd say what I have is going to look good, but I got not one word written last week.

Oh, meanwhile Peg and I are still getting along pretty well. A couple of minor squabbles so far, but we remain *exceptional* at turning them into comedy bits. For the most part, she's been incredibly kind and accommodating, punctuated by minor bouts of OH MY GOD WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU COLOR-COORDINATE YOUR SHAMPOO BOTTLES YOU SCALY FREAK. :D

Desk and chair arrive Thursday. So excited. The main thing Peg and I need right now is PRIVATE SPACE.