Finally some video games!

If you have been checking out my YouTube channel you'll see that I've been doing weekly guides for  the PC game Marvel Heroes (http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLF0Z55ldDEtRT4vn1b1eJGBA8LSCDKcIj) but sadly haven't done much else in the way of video gaming.  But, that all changes today!  For my foray back into video games, I'm starting off with a genre run-down of some of my favorite Rogue-like games.  For those unfamiliar, Rogue-like games share similarities with the 1980 classic Rogue, a dungeon crawl adventure game with several key features.

Today, permanent death (with little or no benefits from one "life" transferring to another) in games is often marked as Rogue-like, but there is certainly plenty of wiggle room with the exact definition.  Here, I go over 3 of my personal favorites: Pixel Piracy, FTL: Faster Than Light, and Rogue Legacy.  Enjoy, be awesome, and comment/discuss if you feel the need!

Hope you enjoyed the video!  I will see you next time for my next video game genre run-down: RTS!!!  And maybe a board game one in the middle..... who knows???

More board games!

After such a long time, I revisit the very first category of games that I EVER talked about; cooperative games!  They're great for new players, as they won't feel as intimidated being on a team rather than being against everyone else from the word go, and many of them are thematically wonderful!  Enjoy the video!

If you're new to gaming, these are by FAR the best way to introduce yourself to the world of board games.  There isn't nearly as much to worry about (have others worry a bit for you) and they are often a great deal of fun.  Hope you liked the video and we'll see you next time!

Stimulus Triggered Acquision of Pluripotency - Controversy and Misconduct

At long last I get to travel back into my TRUE wheelhouse - SCIENCE!.  And not simply talking about how some specific thing works or anything like that, but rather MY science.

I work heavily with stem cells, which most everyone has likely heard of at some point or another.  You may have heard about the controversy in Korea from around 2006 when it was found that a professor (Hwang Woo-suk) falsified data when he claimed to have made human embryonic stem cells from a process called somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT).  It got huge media coverage and began to raise a great many questions about how science as a system functions - since it is self-regulating, how can it be trusted if this kind of thing is going on?

Around that same time, Shinya Yamanaka published his groundbreaking work establishing induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells.  Not only did this hold up to scrutiny, but it gave us the opportunity to further examine the therapeutic potential of pluripotent (i.e. ES) stem cells.  It also represents one of the fastest turnarounds from discovery to awarding of a Nobel Prize (~6 years).  By the way, if you care to see, I've got my old blog post (http://gamingfandomandscience.blogspot.com/2013/02/science-working-and-working-out.html) discussing stem cells, how they work, etc.  It's all in the video, but you can read words if you prefer.

Getting back on track, here in 2014, we see another ENORMOUS issue with misconduct.  The problem?  Another apparently groundbreaking methodology for making ES-like cells that is faster, easier, and more efficient than iPS.  Excellent!  Right?  Wellll...... not so much.  Riddled with issues from image splicing to plagiarism and rocking the very foundation of the institute the work was done at, Stimulus Triggered Acquisition of Pluripotency is truly a story not only worth telling, but a sight to behold.  Please enjoy!

If you're interested, you can check out links to most of the news article's in the video's description.  I think this is a real beginning for something major; the idea of peer-review slack, poor running of labs, it's all ridiculous and we have to try and figure out how much blame goes where.  Should the journal(s) be scrutinized for not having more rigorous examination of the data?  What about the PI of the lab (not only for STAP but general lack of organization, as well)?  RIKEN itself is largely independent, with little government oversight; should that stay?  So many questions....

Regardless, I hope you enjoyed the video and will see you next time!

First!!!!

With a new board gaming video, I finally did a top 10, rather than a top 5.  While the category, broadly, is games that are unique, strange, unusual, and/or quirky, I looked primarily at 2 things - theme and mechanics.

In my last video I talked about theme briefly (in discussing Science Fiction in general), but some games have themes that are so unusual that said theme ALONE made me want to play the game.  Mechanics-wise, there are definitely some good ones: Tzolk'in (The Myan Calendar Game) is one that didn't quite make the list, and where turns and worker movement are both tracked by a large gear system.  It's really cool and would've been on the list if I had 1 or 2 more spots.

Regardless, enjoy my FIRST TOP 10!!!  Hooray!!!

Thank you and see you next time!

A Year and a Half....

I found a decent chunk of time to do a really special board gaming video to celebrate making videos!  Yes, that does seem odd.  I've made a decent number of top 5 board game lists but since then I've gotten a decent number of new games, some of which fit into my previous categories, so I wanted to do an update video.

Going from a small, basic collection of games (good games, mind you, but still) to a rather substantial collection gives a lot of opportunity for new stuff.  Please enjoy and thank you for watching all this time!!!

Links to the original videos are in both the description and the 'curtain' splash page before I discuss them.  Thank you again and see you next time!

Let's talk THEME!

After so long I finally made a board gaming video I should've made closer to the beginning; my favorite science fiction games.  Themes can be a very difficult thing for many board games.  Some take themes and utilize them to great effect, genuinely immersing you in whatever world you're playing in.  Others tend to take a game and build a theme around it.  I have found that I have much more fun when a theme is integrated to the mechanics.  Far too often I see themed games where I can't help but think that it (the base mechanics) could (and likely will) simply be repurposed under new guises of themes.  It's a shame to see, but works well for designers and publishers.  For example, I cannot think of any other theme that would fit the mechanics of Shadows Over Camelot or Battlestar Galactica.  They are both great theme games (the former ALWAYS involving Monty Python jokes at the table) that really wouldn't work well with anything else.  Other games, namely wargames off the top of my head, frequently have mechanics utilized in other 'settings' (i.e. Civil War vs. WWII).  It's not necessarily a bad thing, but if I want to play a game that takes place somewhere at some specific time period, the last thing I want to think it that I'm essentially playing in the wrong era.

Onto today's video!  I've loved science fiction since I was a kid and found this new, wonderful way to enjoy the genre in board gaming.  I think that these games all do a good job of feeling science fiction-y without a) being overbearing with it, and b) just generally being fun to play.  I'm very excited and hope that you enjoy it!

I'm very excited; my next couple of videos are going to be a pretty substantial departure (at least the board gaming ones will be).  Hope that you liked it and I'll see you next time!

New Board Gaming Video!

Continuing the relatively steady stream of my new videos, my latest video is a pretty fun one, but not necessarily to be taken lightly - board games that can (and probably have) torn friendships or other relations apart at the seams.

Seem unlikely?  Unfortunately not.  Pretty crazy; drama in gaming can be no less real than drama created with..... well, anything else.  It's either that or my gaming group was just completely insane.  That's more likely.  And the Jagermeister didn't help decrease tension.  But that is neither here nor there, enjoy the video!

Enjoy, thank you very much, and see you next time!

New video, back to SCIENCE!

Hello one and all!  A very painful month has finally given me some time to work on and upload my latest video, all about electricity.  Huzzah!  Exciting demonstrations, all sort of fun facts, and generally just plain awesome.  Enjoy!

Hope you liked the video and see you next time!

Mmmmm.... Foooood......

So the last couple of weeks have been really tough.  It has been unfortunate and I won't go into it; Nothing anyone reading this cares much about.  The important thing for this is that, typically, when I am saddened, I make foodstuffs!

It can be very difficult to balance a couple things, though.  Not feeling well but wanting to make food means that we don't really want to clean up much.  Very terrible.  Thus is the balance - easy to make, delicious, and at least relatively simple to clean.

Today's selection, jalapeno poppers!!  Mmmmmm..... so yum.  And ridiculously easy and versatile!

Needed for deliciousness - Fresh jalapenos (~2 inches long, however many you want), bacon, cream cheese and any mix-ins (I use cheddar cheese), mixing bowl and storage bowl.

I start by mixing up the filling.  Again, in my case, cream and cheddar cheeses.  This can go pretty much anywhere though.  Generally good to keep relatively savory, though, sweet is dangerous.

Cold cream cheese doesn't work for electric mixing.  Go by hand.

Poke poke.  yum!

The first major prep step for the peppers is the basic cutting.  I tend to go with removing the top followed by lengthwise bisecting.  Easy peasy.  You can do this numerous ways, though, including leaving them whole.

Boom!  Sliced!

Here's a bit of a divergence - what to do with the seeds and membranes (aka the capsaicin).  I put the seeds and membranes into a separate bowl.  These can be used to make the stuffing spicier, saved for later soups/marinades/etc, or just tossed out.  The seeds are easy enough to remove.  The membrane is the slightly shiny coating inside the peppers.  If you use a metal spoon and scrape the inside, there will initially be an almost crunchy sound to the scraping.  Once that's gone, so is the membrane.

I toss the tops, too.  Not really needed.

All done!  Run a quick rinse on the hollowed out pepper halves to make certain the seeds and membranes are all gone.

Ready to stuff and wrap!  Relatively simple but can be tough if you aren't careful.

I'll typically cut the bacon slices in half, it tends to be more than enough to wrap the pepper halves.  Also, thicker bacon = always better.  If needed, use full slices of bacon for larger peppers.

Stuff the peppers, but not overstuffed.  This can be a tough balance to make.  I tend to fill them just to the top of the hollowed out halves..

Mmmmmmmmmm bacon.  I wrap diagonally and put in the toothpick the same way, getting the beginning and end of the bacon piece.  

Toothpicks holding the poppers together serves the bacon.  As they cook, the fat renders off and ordinarily shrinks the bacon (whenever you make bacon you see this).  The shrinking means the poppers won't be covered once they're out of the oven, so the picks keep them wrapped.

All done, time for the oven!  w00t!

400 F, 15-20 min.  Get the bacon crispy as you see fit.  Totally awesome.

Awwwwwwww yea!!!  Time to eat!!!!  Nom nom nom nom nom!!!

Alright, that's it for me, folks!  Go forth and make food!  Then eat it!  Because yum!  See you next time!

NASA!!!!! Also conference. I suppose.

Today was by far the best day during the Galveston conference.  It was the trip to NASA in Houston!  It wasn't really long (only about 2 hours) but it was fairly cheap ($30) and it was a blast and definitely something I've wanted to do for a long time.  Sadly still not feeling great headache wise but made it through.  Also fell asleep on the bus a bit.  Anyway!  Important things first!

Of course FOOD!  Not great as there was nothing special (waffles or whatnot) but waaaaay better than what I normally have.  So that's certainly a plus.

After the morning session we got a box lunch (turkey sandwich.... yay?) and were off to Houston!!  At long last a nice sunny day.

Pass to get in!  Yea yea!!  Can't wait!

AAAAAHHHHHHHH OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG!!!!!

So, this place is huge.  Like, ridiculously huge.  As in completely insane.  There is an enormous amount to do all throughout several buildings and I picked just a couple.

Because f***ing angry birds, that's why.

These are the parachutes from the Orion spacecraft (shuttle replacement currently in development).  They are longer than the 4-ish story building they're in.  Crazy.

The major fun thing that I went to do at the space center was to take a trolly ride to the more 'intense' aspects of the center.  It goes to 3 locations - the command center, the SVMF (Space Vehicle Mockup Facility), and the 'rocket park', containing a hangar housing the Saturn V rocket that was due to be used for Apollo 18 before it was cancelled.

Sign for the mission control center.  OMG YAY!!

Apollo program dedication just outside the control center

WHAT????  Push button to operate the door??!!!!  NASA is awesome!

Just inside the control center is an exhibit of sorts to showcase the watches given to the astronauts on Gemini, Apollo (except 1, starts with 7), and Skylab (aboard the ISS).  Easy way to tell the difference?  Gemini only has 2 names, Apollo and Skylab have 3 names and are labeled with mission name.

The first few Gemini watches in the display

More Gemini

Other side of the display case, starting with the Skylab missions (right 3) and the final Apollo (17)

Apollo missions.  13 is on the far left (horses with the sun and moon)

Another few Apollo.  11 (first landing) is in the middle.  Because eagles love the moon.

Transition from Gemini to Apollo.

Final Geminis

Scale model of the LEM (Lunar Excursion Module)

Scale model of the Gemini craft

Saturn V rocket model.  Very impressive feat of engineering.

Once through the watches and models, we head upstairs to see the historic command center.  Where the ground crew was for ALL manned space flights in the early days (60s - early 80s, I believe) (un-maned flights are taken care of at the jet propulsion lab in California).  The old command center is a certified historical site by the department of the interior and is, in general, REALLY awesome to see.  Fun fact, the mainframe computer used for the old command center had 2MB of memory.  So..... like 3 pictures?  2 if you have a nice camera.  Also, at the time, that was state of the art.

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG!!!  This is the historic command center!

RED PHONE!!!!  Straight line to the Pentagon from the DoD Representative.  Tour guide said it was primarily to coordinate the splashdown recovery with the Navy once location had been calculated.

Public affairs officer's station and the infamous speaker box that the astronaut's speech was routed, most notably during the moon landing.

Camera feed of the modern command center, manned 24/365 for the ISS astronauts.

Flight operations, aka the guy who approves EVERYTHING.  Aka the most stressful job.  Aka Ed Harris.

Mission director - flight plan coordinator and whatnot.

Close up on the map readout above the stations.

Additional stations.  The front row were the guys basically responsible for all the calculations aka slide rule city.  Also very stressful jobs.  Must get correct answer very quickly.

Passing by one of the training facilities where they use liquid N2 for spacewalk simulations, as it's cold in space.

Next stop on the tour was the SVMF (Space Vehicle Mockup Facility).  It is basically what it sounds like.  They have currently in service and experimental capsules, etc. for astronauts from all over the world to train in the operation/repair/emergency procedures/etc.  Plus the people on the ground can test repairs and whatnot prior to the folks in space doing them.

Hangar doors at the SVMF.  for scale, the building is 8 stories.

Posters for the upcoming Orion capsule, soon to start testing.  This is the system that will take men to Mars.

More Orion.

And one more.

MPCV model - part of Orion.

So the SVMF is, in essence, little more than an enormous warehouse.  The difference is they fill theirs with awesome stuff that goes into space.

Some of the ISS modules for training.

More ISS

OMG the ISS is HUGE.

This just looked like a cool workstation.

Workstation/airlock.

Better view of some of the modules.

Yay modules!

That's a lot of space programs.

Random space suit.  Because NASA.

Module source/countries contributing to the ISS.

Russian Soyuz capsule simulator.  These are what take US astronauts up to the ISS.

This thing is..... Really....

Big.  The cool black curtain in the back is a low friction floor.  Essentially an air hockey table the astronauts train on.

NASA uses sewing machines.  Good to know.

This is the back of the....... front.... ummmm..... anyway!  Back of the nose of the shuttle.  Since it has been retired, this will be moved out (to a museum, I'm sure) and replaced with new tech.

Cool looking workstation.

More suits!!  I assume these are for shuttle training.

An initial trainer for the Orion capsule.  Apparently that will carry 4 people and food for more than a year.  I call no.

This thing is awesome.  It simulates connecting 2 capsules/modules/etc. together while in space (i.e. includes simulation of speed needed to maintain orbit).  Super cool.

The giant warehouse that is the SVMF is split into 2 parts, the modules (for training primarily) and the other side for robotics testing.

See?  Robots.  Awesome.

More general robot view.

Lots of floor space.  This side also has some of the next generation rovers.

Robonaut!  Slated to replace human astronauts for spacewalk-needed mechanical repairs.

Better look at robonaut.

Next gen rover.  The suits are actually attached so the people can go in and out of suits straight from the rover itself.

Thus was the end of the SVMF.  Super cool and very imformative.  Last but certainly not least, we headed to rocket park for the Saturn V.  Before that, we made a brief stop.....

Memorial trees.  Planted for astronauts lost.  Guide mentioned the first one was planted for one who died of natural causes, Challenger, Columbia followed.

 We reached rocket park, and I personally was ecstatic to see the Saturn.  Huzzah!  Again, this particular rocket was slated to be used on Apollo 18, ready to go.  Funding got cut so the mission didn't happen, however.

Just outside the park, couple of earlier rockets on display.

The rocket park 'warehouse'.  I'm almost certain the Saturn V silhouette is to scale.  You'll see.

HOLY F*** those are big!!!!!  5 engines, each about 12 feet across, powered the Saturn V.

Specs on the engines.  Pretty impressive, if I say myself.

If I worked at NASA, I would not even breathe on that.

All 5!

Old rocket compared to a single F-1 engine.  I'd call that different.

Yea.  It's big.

Big tires!

USA, indeed.  USA indeed.

Stage 2 of the Saturn.  If you saw the Apollo 13 movie, this is the 'little jolt' felt by the men.

Stage 3 - the command module is separated from the remainder of the rocket.

Module!

Nose you can walk through!

Woah.  Wires.

I find it odd the whole thing is basically supported by 2 cross bars.

Other side of the warehouse with info on each Apollo mission on the left.

Apollo mission flags and insignia.

I did my best to get decent pictures on all the info for the Apollo missions.  Sorry some of it's fuzzy/kinda warped.  I was in a hurry and couldn't get far enough away.

The first tragedy.  Apollo I didn't make it off the launch pad.  A fire in the module killed all 3 men aboard.  The program was shutdown for quite awhile after.

After the tragedy of Apollo I, many changes had to be made, from the suits to the mechanics.  The numbering system went a bit different, as well.  The next major mission was VII (7).  In between was IV, V, and VI (4, 5, 6).  The mission numbers 1, 2, and 3 were retired to honor each of the 3 men lost in the Apollo I fire.

Apollo VII - sticking close to Earth to test the systems

To the moon and back.  Testing if the Saturn system could successfully go to the moon.

First mission fully outfitted for a lunar excursion, though did not do it.  It primarily tested the changes do to additional weight from lunar lander and science equipment.

"Soft test" of lunar landing.  Went down to about 50,000 feet above lunar surface, again testing everything.

The one we know and love.  First landing, steps, rocks, science, and a famous quote.

Close up images.

XII built off of the work XI initially did.  They picked of some of the equipment left behind (test if lunar exposure had any effect), place new equipment, get more rocks, etc.

The other one everybody knows.  From left to right, Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton.

You notice they're all Jr.'s?  Freaky.

Apollo XIV is when Shepard hit golf balls on the moon.  What else matters?  Also they did science.

XV represented the first use of the rover vehicles because you can be like "Oh, you've been on the dunes in Nevada?  I've been on the dunes on the MOOOOOON!!!!  *mic drop*"

XVI was another rover-centric flight, and primarily for collection of additional samples.  XVII, the final landing, included a geologist to gain a better insight to where to get samples and what they indicated more directly.

Thus is the end of the tram tour.  Sooooo incredible and absolutely amazing.  Back in the main building, and with very little time, I figured it was time for buttons and diagrams.  There is an example of the shuttle control console that can be walked through, and just outside is an engine from said shuttle.

Woooo engine boom!

That's pretty impressive.  Such an incredible amount of engineering.

One of the control consoles in the walk-in shuttle exhibit.

So.... many..... switches......

AHHHHH THERE'S MORE!!!

And we all thought that a jumbo jet was complicated.  PAH!!  I say.  Eat space shuttle!

I would be terrible at this.  I'd use the right console as an armrest and probably blow out a hatch or something.

The ceiling arguably has more switches.

More on the ceiling!!!

Apparently I am in the wrong field.  No NASA for me...... :(  .  I think that zero-g stem cells are very important.....

That's it for my amazing trip to the NASA space center.  Absolutely incredible and sooo much fun and a ridiculous amount learned.  I will need to come back to see some of the other stuff.  Back to earth (*ba dum tish*) we return from whence we came.  FOOD!

Not bad for a last dinner at the conference.  Make your own burger, salad, fries, green beans and OMG DELICIOUS CUPCAKE IT WAS SOOOOOO GOOD!

So that's it for me and this particularly awesome conference trip.  See you next time and thanks for coming by!