Lists make Twitter easier, more useful

I must confess that I have been tweeting less and viewing both Facebook and Twitter considerably less as well.  I am not sure quite why that is, but I think I hit a point with Twitter, at least, where it became hard to pay attention to what my friends were saying on Twitter. 

However, Twitter finally released a beta version of their Lists feature.  After setting up a few of them, I find my Twitter feed much more manageable.  Good going, Twitter!

Picture of the PsiCorp Shadow Hunters I finished recently

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.

Posted Pics of PsiCorp vs EA/ISA Game

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.

Nursing homes vs. community based personal care services

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.

Photos from Torvalus vs Shadows Game

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.

Fall priming done

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.

Using nonviolent direct action to stop investor shakedowns of entrepreneurs

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.