Jerry Stratton's Blog, page 13

The Cellphone Problem in horror roleplaying

Modern technology makes isolation, both physical and informational, much more difficult. Game masters in modern games need to recognize that isolation is too much like a railroad, and prepare adventures accordingly.

Breakfast lassi

Yogurt and spice is a great way to start the day.

The Voters vs. the Party linked on Editorials

“I haven’t been reading a lot of Trump indictment analysis by Andrew McCarthy, Jonathan Turley, Alan Dershowitz… They’re all great legal minds, but how naïve do you have to be still to think that America has anything recognizable as a ‘justice’ system?” “The point I always make is on the agreed line of ninety-nine per cent of American politicians, judges, bureaucrats and media experts—that, oh sure, they found a little bit of fraud but relax, it wasn’t enough to change the result.

“Not to go all Turleyesque on you, but what’s the evidentiary basis for that statement? In non-corrupt countries such as, say, Denmark, that’s not the standard: it’s not that there’s not enough fraud to change the result, it’s that there’s no fraud—period.

“…the base is trying to tell the worthless GOP establishment something important here:

We don’t think this is a normal election, and we can’t see the point of pretending that it is.

“…[while] the American right still talks about the justice system and the election campaign as if either term means what it does in functioning societies… in my experience of Third World crapholes, you don’t start criminalizing your political opposition unless you’ve already decided there aren’t going to be any election-night surprises.

…

“These are not normal times: in the years ahead, ever greater corruption… will be necessary to constrain the people’s choices to the shriveled offerings of the Uniparty. So, if you reckon it’s bad now, wait till next time. GOP primary voters seem to get that at least.

Oktoberfest Sauerkraut for Potato Day

This simple sauerkraut casserole turns into an amazing National Potato Day treat when topped with mashed potato.

JXA and AppleScript compared via HyperCard

How does JXA compare to the AppleScript solution for screenshotting every card in HyperCardPreview?

Eddie Doucette recipe sampler

Despite their occasional weirdness, I’ve yet to try a recipe that didn’t turn out at least pretty good. Some are amazing.

In Defense of the One-Minute Round

The six-second combat round de-emphasizes role-playing and problem solving in favor of brute force and pre-defined from-the-sheet actions.

A HyperCard Time Machine

Use AppleScript and HyperCardPreview to archive a screenshot of every card in a HyperCard stack.

Tempt Them with Tastier Foods: An Eddie Doucette Recipe Collection

When I get locked into a serious recipe collection, the tendency is to take it as far as I can. You can benefit from my obsession with this collection of wonderful recipes from the fifties and sixties “files of Eddie Doucette”, television personality and IGA chef.

Quick-and-dirty old-school island script

Here’s a Python-based island generator using the tables from the Judges Guild Island Book 1.