All posts by James O'Keefe

Miniatures, When Imagination Fails

Picture of the PsiCorp Shadow Hunters I finished recently

Leave a comment

I finished two PsiCorp Shadow Hunters this week and posted a picture of the two of them at Flickr:

PsiCorp Shadow Hunters

I pretty much used the same technique as I have with other Shadow-like ships:

  1. Spray prime with black;
  2. Paint with several coats of Floquil NATO Black;
  3. Apply a wash of silver multiple times.

I cannot list the paint/water ratio I used, since I adjusted it to be more silver between each coat.  I think I applied at least four coats.  I am more satisfied with this result than what I achieved with the other Shadow ships since the silver is more noticeable.  I photographed it under florescent lights so the lighting conditions aren't the best.

Games, When Imagination Fails

Posted Pics of PsiCorp vs EA/ISA Game

Leave a comment

I posted pictures of the PsiCorp vs EA/ISA Game we played today.  Start at the picture linked here and click the right most thumbnail picture in the "whenimaginationfails' photostream" set of pictures on the right. Keep clicking the right most thumbnail picture to cycle through the game. 

Suffice it to say that my EA / ISA forces got their clocks cleaned with the all three Earth ships either exploding or being reduced to no hull and crew.  After the Omega died in turn 4, the White Star opened a jump point in turn 5 and performed an All power to engines special action to get out and tell others what had happened.   I'll post a more detailed turn by turn account when I can.

Disability

Nursing homes vs. community based personal care services

Leave a comment

Martina Robinson, my friend and fellow former Green-Rainbow Party candidate and advocate for people with disabilities, is writing a great set of articles on the day to day and political issues that people with disabilities face.  Of late she has been focusing on whether nursing home care is really cost effective for the state government and whether it really helps people with disabilities better than home and community based care.  Here are the first three articles on this topic:

Here is a list of the other articles she has written.

Games, Miniatures, When Imagination Fails

Photos from Torvalus vs Shadows Game

Leave a comment

I put up the two most interesting photos from my Torvalus vs Shadows game.

Torvalus had bet on the development of the younger species at GLrdBffVb.  When the Shadows started to interfere in the GLrdBffVbians development and affect the Torvalus' bets, the Torvalus sent their Dark Knives to enforce a blockade of GLrdBffVb.

The Shadows decided to force the issue and run the Torvalus blockade.

In the picture below, after the initial clash, the Dark Knife in the lower left used its super maneuverability to retreat and get a side shot on the ancient Shadow cruiser while the others moved to engage the other ship.

Torvalus engage Shadows

The view from the other ship:

Torvalus ship faces off against attacking Shadows

We had to cut the game short and so we never found out who would win.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find my normal camera and had to rely on my cell phone camera instead.

Miniatures, When Imagination Fails

Fall priming done

Leave a comment

We had a brief bit of warm weather, and with trimming and cleaning done, I set about priming the latest set of miniatures on which I plan to work.  Of course my list of primed, but not completed, miniatures is far too high.  Still, I finished priming a bunch of miniatures, including:

  • 1 Minbari Sharlin
  • 2 Brakiri cruisers
  • 4 Brakiri Halik frigates
  • 2 Shadow Hunters
  • 2 Shadow Omegas
  • 1 Shadow scout
  • 1 Shadow cruiser
  • 8 stands of Shadow fighters
  • 8 stands of Vorlon fighters
  • 8 stands of Minbari Nial fighters
  • 10 stands of Narn Frazi fighters
  • a whole bunch of Mauridian & Deisho from Ravenstar's Cold Navy line.

This is most of what I hoped to do last month, but the Shadow scouts are a pain to glue together, though they look fantastic, so I only worked on one.

I had hoped to make the Shadow Omegas' center section actually rotate, ala this post, and went so far as to buy the required brass rod and tube.  However, I decided that drilling out the center section would prove to be too large an effort.

I have a game coming up, so I am finishing up the Shadow Hunters.  I'll post pictures of the last two games next week I hope.

By Will Alone, Strategy & Tactics

Using nonviolent direct action to stop investor shakedowns of entrepreneurs

Leave a comment

Jason Calacanis is all a twitter about investors charging startups to pitch their ideas to them and calls on such investor groups to stop.  If they don't, he is willing to use nonviolent direct action tactics to get them to stop:

"However, if this is not done immediately, my group of startup CEOs and
angel investors will begin targeting specific groups for elimination. 
We will launch competing, fee-free events directly opposite your
events. We will encourage angels investors, service providers and
startups to boycott your events. You may even find our street teams
outside your events handing out flyers."

While I have my suspicions about the investor class in general, it is good to see more groups using nonviolent direct action.

Thanks to Shawn Broderick, who has also railed against such investor shakedowns, for pointing out the above article.

Celebrity, Social Justice

Extradite Polanski!

Leave a comment

On "Getting Over It," by Lauren over at Feministe (cited from Boing Boing):

What
does rape do to you? Afterward? It changed me; there is before and
after. Before, a child, playing with Barbies, looking sideways at boys,
wondering. After, confusion. Depression. A litany of fuck-ups and
fuck-its, whatevers, mistakes, trusting no one, least of all myself.
Before, sex was mysterious; after, miasma. I was tarred as a Lolita. I
was called jail bait.

Rape is not the only assault. Around rape is a large segment of the
population that questions the victim, a culture that looks down on
victims for allowing themselves to be victimized, or keep them
victimized, questions about the victim's credibility, questions about
the legacy of rape and how bad it is, because how bad is rape really?
Rape, because various levels and forms of sexual assault are systemic
and pervasive across all societies, exists alongside one's experiences
of unwanted touching, wanted touching, sexual objectification, sexual
desire, sexual harassment, incest, love, leering eyes, cat calls,
roaming hands, consent, confusion, tits, vagina, rectum, penis, mouth,
rape and not-rape, all of it loaded, all of it veering at rape's ugly
legacy, co-mingling, the legacy that tells us to be more careful, to
dress more conservatively, to BE BETTER AT BEING VULNERABLE, or BE MORE
POWERFUL, or BE MORE FEARFUL, or GET OVER IT ALREADY. Rape leaks into
healthy, consensual experiences. It lingers. It pervades.

There is more at the Boing Boing post about Polanski using alcohol and a Quaalude to make it easier to rape her, a link to her testimony clearly indicating that she said no and a quote from Polanski that everyone wants to have sex with girls.  This guy is amazing.  Perhaps someone should give Polanski these tips when he is back in jail:

Sexual Assault Prevention Tips Guaranteed to Work!

1.   Don’t put drugs in people’s drinks in order to control their behavior.

2.   When you see someone walking by themselves, leave them alone!

3.   If you pull over to help someone with car problems, remember not to assault them!

4.   NEVER open an unlocked door or window uninvited.

5.   If you are in an elevator and someone else gets in, DON’T ASSAULT THEM!

6.   Remember, people go to laundry to do their laundry, do not attempt to molest someone who is alone in a laundry room.

7.   USE THE BUDDY SYSTEM! If you are not able to stop yourself from
assaulting people, ask a friend to stay with you while you are in
public.

8.   Always be honest with people! Don’t pretend to be a caring
friend in order to gain the trust of someone you want to assault.
Consider telling them you plan to assault them. If you don’t
communicate your intentions, the other person may take that as a sign
that you do not plan to rape them.

9.   Don’t forget: you can’t have sex with someone unless they are awake!

10. Carry a whistle! If you are worried you might assault someone
“on accident” you can hand it to the person you are with, so they can
blow it if you do.

And, ALWAYS REMEMBER: if you didn’t ask permission and then respect
the answer the first time, you are committing a crime- no matter how
“into it” others appear to be.