Steven Savage's Blog, page 81

Civic Diary 7/24/2016: Principles, News, Trump, Information

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.comand Steve’s Tumblr)

Another busy week for me – I had some classes at work. My pretty awesome boss pointed me at them, so not only did I get important management training, I now have to take a test because these people aren’t messing around. However it meant Monday and Tuesday were solid work, along with most of Wednesday.

But hey, I got some Civic activity to talk about. For those of you new here, I’m documenting my experiences in being more engag...

No Man’s Sky: Documentary And More

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, www.SeventhSanctum.com, and Steve’s Tumblr)

As we eagerly await the drop of No Man’s Sky (OK, I am, but considering my hobbies it’s not surprising), I noticed a thread on reddit discussing the desire for a documentary on the game. I wanted to address this and more.

In short, as I expect NMS to be successful, and certainly groundbreaking even if flawed, and yes, it’s one we should know more about.

But a documentary is just the start of what we sh...

Curb My Enthusiasm: TF2, Overwatch, PokemonGo, and Work

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.comand Steve’s Tumblr)

I should be really enthused about games right now.

TF2, which I adore, has added ranking and competition along with smooth new interfaces. Games feel they’re taken a bit more seriously now, as opposed to SwagBag420 dancing around his sentry.

Overwatch, which is amazing, is here. It’s got competitive mode and casual mode and great gameplay. It’s got a new character coming.

PokemonGo realizes many of my ideas of augmented reality...

Civic Diary 7/15/2016

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.comand Steve’s Tumblr)

If you’ve been following my Civic Diary for any time you know one of my goals as an engaged citizen is to get connected to politics. My attempts to connect with local groups was pretty scattershot, much of it because people kept moving the damn meetings. Finally I found one by going to whatever I could and visiting a local political office.

So what I went to this meeting it was a kind of polyglot of local chapter meeting, club...

Steve’s Update 7/11/2016

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, www.SeventhSanctum.com, and Steve’s Tumblr)

Man, so much going on last week – ranging from work to all the terrible incidents in the world. Sorry for slow and weird updates. So where am I?

Way With Worlds Books:

Way With Worlds Book 1 is pretty much done. I just have to check the print copy one more time. The Kindle version is looking good, but a Kindle isn’t something requiring tricky page formatting and breaks. I’m really proud of it – which...

So What’s After Trump?

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.comand Steve’s Tum

I think Trump is going to loose the election in 2016. I give it a small chance that he won’t even get the Republican nomination if the Republican convention turns to chaos; it’d give some insiders a chance to derail him. The media may freak out as he gets closer to the nomination (or the election) and do it’s job.This far aside, what happens after Trump?

That’s something I’m having a hard time conjuring a vision for. There’s bits a...

No Man’s Sky: Failure To Come Together

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, www.SeventhSanctum.com, and Steve’s Tumblr)

Sorry this is late. Busy few weeks, but now I’m back to my pre-release analysis of No Man’s Sky. After all I love games and i love procedural generation.

We’recounting down to No Man’s Sky’s release in August. We’re approaching the big release, and once again I’m seeingposts on the Internet asking if it will succeed or fail. This is not unusual, but it’s time for another round of them apparently.

I’ve...

Civic Diary 7/9/2016

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.comand Steve’s Tumblr)

What a hell of a week. Philando Castile and Alton Sterling shot by police. Police shot by an ex-military sniper in Dallas. I won’t lie, it’s left me a bit numb.

But here I am writing, because this is part of my project to be better, and we could all use being better.

With the shootings first of all, there’s really two parts – the first is excessive use of police force against minorities, which is clearly an issue. The second is...

Steve’s Update 7/5/2016

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, www.SeventhSanctum.com, and Steve’s Tumblr)

So there’s a lot going here, but let’s get to the big new release . . . or small release. A new book!

I rewrote my old Skill Portability columns into a full guide on skill portability, complete with both hobbyist/fan and professional advice. You can get it here – and it’s only 99 cents!

This is part of a larger experiment of mine to see about revising, compiling, combining, and improving old columns in...

Lemongrass Green Pea Stir-Fry

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.comand Steve’s Tumblr)

This surprising meal is repurposed from a side dish, tweaked, and streamlined. The result is a sweet pea-and-onion stir-fry that goes fantastic on rice. Served with a green it’s a full meal without being heavy and is pretty easy to prepare.

The only challenge is finding the lemongrass and preparing it. You can either chop it fine or chop it in a blender with water (used then to dry-sauté). Lemongrass does not cook like onions t...