Radio Active #64: Opening New Portals to Geek Parenting

This is old news now, but I figured it was still worth a crosspost: Radio Active #64 is available over on Nuketown. It's got a review of the excellent puzzle game Portal, reviews of the Critical Hits and MacMommy blogs, and speculation on when Jordan should see Star Wars.

And on an entirely different note ... this is the 400th blog post on The Atomic Age. Not bad for a little backwater blog I only remember to post to about half the time.

Blog It

The folks at Six Apart (Moveable Type, TypePad) have created Blog It, which allows you to post to a variety of services, including Blogger and Twitter, from within Facebook. If you live in Facebook, this app makes a lot of sense; for those of us who are just visiting, well, it could still make a lot of sense. Being able to update all of your online apps from one location at once is very appealing, as is the ability to only update a handful of them.

Cosmic Coffee Collaboration

The Cosmic Cup in College Hill, Easton, is hosting a coffee cupping on Friday, April 18th at noon.  At a cupping, you try samples of several different kinds of coffee and report on their fragrance, taste and body. It's quite the process as you look at the grinds, the initial mixture after hot water is added to them, and then finally the completed cup of coffee. I think it took about an hour the last time I tried it; if you're into coffee, it's well worth checking out.

Obama, Clinton campaigns opening Easton offices

I'm not a Democrat (I'm more of an independent, thank you very much) but I still find this notable: Obama campaign to open Easton office. Apparently, Hillary's opening one too.

While more than a few talking heads have lamented that the Democratic primary season has dragged on this long, I for one welcome it. Hell, I wish all primaries were as indecisive. It gives people a chance to really grok the candidates, and allows party members throughout the country to participate in the process, rather than just the handful small-but-influential ones who traditionally tried to crown a front runner.

I do find it odd that some of those who seem so passionate about "the people being heard" and "making every vote count" are so quick to wish for a swift primary season. Yes, I realize that gives the candidates more time to focus on the main election ... but it also means cutting millions of participants out of the process. Which would seem to run contrary to the whole idea of listening to the people.

Fortunately, things are running long, and the candidates are listening ... and now you can go talk to their representatives in downtown Easton.

Hobby Hangout Closing

The Hobby Hangout in Easton, Pa. is closing. That's too bad -- I've been in there a few times for train supplies; they always had a good selection and a knowledgeable staff. Unfortunately, I don't do much in the way of hobby building nowadays -- I've never cleared enough space in the basement for a railroad layout, and haven't gotten motivated enough to get back into model rocketry, so I didn't have a lot of reasons to go there, but it was always nice knowing the Hobby Hangout was there.

Family Blog Tag

Sue's been blog tagged by my sister. This has spawned a post in which Sue talks about why she started blogging (which I think is all the more interesting since she just started earlier this month).

Check it out.

Camping at Cabella's

It says a lot about our family that we last Saturday at Cabella's ... and that we were there because of Sue.

Cabella's is a huge outfitter; if you can imagine an outdoor activity, it's likely they'll have the gear for it. Tents, hunting supplies, fishing gear, snow shoes; you name it, they've got it. We were there for a tent, specifically a family tent that we could fit Sue, the kids and myself into. And we went there not because I wanted a tent, but because Sue, aka Nature Girl, wanted one.

Yep, the wife wants to go camping. The husband would rather stay home and play Half-Life 2. But hey, that's why they invented Nintendo DS, right?

Radio Active #63: Geek Survival in the Drupal-Haunted Wilds of New England

On this edition of Nuketown Radio Active, I talk about my trip to the DrupalCon Boston geekfest, spend a few days playing in the snowy wilds of New Hampshire, my wife Sue starts a blog of her own for Red-Tail Designs. Meanwhile, in Netheads, I find out what it takes to survive Giant Robot attacks and live with a Pokeman addiction by listening to the Geek Survival Guide, and meet some fellow gamers who have similar apprehensions about D&D 4th edition with the 3.5 Private Sanctuary podcast. Finally, I find out how to get some great new gamer bling thanks to the blog of the same name. Get the podcast.

Red-Tail Designs Relaunch

My wife's relaunched the web site for her jewelry and craft business, Red-tail Designs. She creates horsehair bracelets, porcupine quillwork, and other niche products, like coffee cuffs. She also teaches workshops on beading and quillwork. Check out the site at www.redtaildesigns.com.

Elucidating Synthetic Culture

I've already posted about this on Nuketown, but since The Atomic Age is nominally my blog about life in Easton, I figured I'd post it here as well: The publisher of the The Elucidator, a print magazine in Easton, Pa., now has a blog called Synthetic Culture.

Radio Active #62: Do Macs Dream of Electronic Balticons?

On this issue of Nuketown Radio Active I struggle to wake my narcoleptic MacBook Pro, try out The Bourne Ultimatum as a movie on demand, discuss my upcoming convention trips to DrupalCon Boston and Balticon 42 and spend some time trying to infiltrate the Secret Lair podcast. In Netheads, I figure out how to actually enjoy exercise and take a look at a Savage Worlds wiki, and then spend some time ranting about why Wizards of the Coast has chosen to slash and burn Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition. Get the podcast at Nuketown.com and check out episode #61 while you're at it.

Jonathan Coulton in the Lehigh Valley?

Geek musician/singer Jonathan Coulton lives in Brooklyn, New York, which isn't all that far from the Lehigh Valley. Yet to the best of my knowledge, he's never played here, which is something I'd like to change.

I've created a "demand" for him via Eventful:

http://eventful.com/demand/D0-001-000000412-0

Click the link and vote if you'd like to see him perform in the area.

Future Debt

So it seems like the federal government's going to go ahead and cut everyone in America a check, which is nice and all except for a) it will likely do little to stop a recession, seeing as how it's a tiny sliver of GNP and b) we'll have to pay for it later since there aren't any spending cuts elsewhere to balance the expenditure.

We're basically borrowing (stealing if you're of a more cynical mind) from our future selves to pay our present selves. But on the plus side, it will help me pay off my MacBook Pro...

Behold ... the Dice of the Elder Gods!

Behold ... the Dice of the Elder Gods!
Originally uploaded by Nuke_18042

My new dice. Aren't they're cool?

Radio Active #60: NaNoWriMo Wrapup, Zelda, Podcast Roundup

Radio Active returns from its holiday hiatus with a wrap up National Novel Writing Month and news about my new reviews up at SCIFI.com. I also talk about my family's adoption (finally) of a TiVo, ramble on about boys and their trucks, spend some time playing Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass and get caught up on a half-dozen different gaming and political podcasts. Get the Episode.