Answering Questions: Dan Head (2 of 3) "Tough Guy!"

You have made reference to being a tough guy enough times that I've started wondering why. Martial arts background? Gangland? Former golden gloves champ? -- Dan Head

Ha! 

I don't think of myself as a tough guy, just someone who forces himself to conquer his fears. You see my brother and I each get really cold when confronted by some new violence. Part of it was where we grew up. We had a murderer who lived next door, a rum runner who ran the market less than a two hundred yards from our front door, and wild animals tended make their way across our property from time to time. Then crack, meth, and heroin hit our area and we had a lot of friends we grew up with go down some incredibly dark paths - too many of them will never come back either. 

So we adjusted that way I suppose.

It also didn't hurt that our parents tended to push us into conquering our fears. I'm more extreme in that regard then my brother as I was afraid of more when we were little than he. As I got older I would move against things that bothered me directly and when things got 'intense' I just felt calm and kept going (like any number of times that I've had a knife pulled on me or a wild pack of dogs come after me). Sometimes I think that has to be a reflection of how my mom and dad dealt with his deployments to Iraq, Kosovo, and every other war and armed conflict since Vietnam. You don't panic; you don't let others see your fear. You just set that jaw and push on through.

Oh, and I have no tolerance for people just being mean to be mean or being bullies. I had a friend commit suicide when he was 12 years old because of that shit and I've confronted it whenever I've seen it since. Worst that can happen is I get my ass kicked.

That shit doesn't bother me at all. 

Answering Questions: Dan Head (1 of 3)

How're liking Marvel's Agents of SHIELD? Why or why not? 

Is it gonna get a second season? -- Dan Head

I haven't been able to sit through a whole episode yet. I keep trying but there is never enough there to keep my attention and I end up playing Last of Us instead. I don't know if my disinterest in Agents of SHIELD is because I never really liked the organization when I was a kid reading comics or if it's because the show's overall just been pretty lukewarm.

From what I've been able to tell it sounds like it might get renewed for half a season and go from there.

Answering Questions: Edward Lockhart

Why can't Pi be expressed as a fraction? -- Edward Lockhart

In one sense it can in the same way that most any number can be translated into a fraction Pi / 1; however that's a cop out and a circumvention of the question.  The truth is that we're unable to express it as a fraction because Pi is an irrational number.

Beyond that I can only tell you that irrational numbers are like the drunken friend you brought to your kid brother's wedding that tried to fuck a tree because he was convinced that doing so made him more of an environmentalist than you. In other words: they're fucked up and I don't like them.

Best Blogs?

I'm looking at the Ennies this afternoon and I discovered that they have a blog category. Which is really cool because I'm expecting to see a blog I've actually heard of or maybe even some new ones that will rock my face clean off. What I find is actually pretty disappointing.

Adventure a Week 

Adventure a Week

This one's actually pretty cool. 

The visual display of the site is nice, though the writing tends to be a bit hit or miss with me. That's totally understandable since there are multiple authors working on this site so it's kind of cool seeing how each author's vision plays out when compared to the others. If you go to the site you'll notice that they actually have a subscription service they're running for their adventures. 

I have no idea if it's worth the fee.

Help My RPG 

Help My RPG

This is an expired page to a blog that no longer exists. I've never heard of it before so I have no information on it other than to say it's not right to have a blog that's gone the way of the Dodo up there.

Nerd Trek

Nerd Trek

Of the two active blogs nominated so far I dislike this one the most. The front page just doesn't feel right to me, though the writing is nice. I don't know, just not my thing I guess. 

We Can Do Better

I'm sure that the nominees so far are all doing their best, but this group of nominees is not representative of the vast majority of bloggers out there. We have great bloggers in all of our feeds who produce amazing content that goes above and beyond what these paid services do. So I'm challenging you to nominate your favorite blogs to the ENnies this year.

According to the rules all you have to do to nominate someone is fill out the form and get permission from the author of the blog. That's nothing because you can just leave them a note and say

Hey, I really like your blog. If you don't mind I'd like to nominate it for the ENnies this year. Are you cool with me nominating you?

Let's do it. 

Let's get out there and nominate our favorite blogs. Let's make this category representative of the blogs we love and not a sounding board for the smallest minority of paid blogs. Nominate the blogs that move you; that make you think; that inspire you. Let's take this category back.

Hello, I'm Charles Akins How May I Help You?

I'm doing another Ask Me Anything here on the blog folks! 

What's that mean for you? It means that you can ask me a question about any topic under the sun and I'll answer it to the best of my ability. If you're really nice I might even be able to get the wife to join in as well. 

You can leave your question here in the comments below, over on google+, you can tweet me @Thatakinsboy, or you can e-mail me. You've got until Thursday, April 3, 2014 at 11:59 PM EST to get your questions in because I'll be answering them all on Friday April 4!

Whispered Dreams Yet to Launch

I used to think about doing a podcast, a lot. 

I had a few friends lined up to come along with me and we were going to do live plays and a round table discussion of various gaming topics, but it all fell through. Not because I didn't have the interest - god knows I still want to do it - but because my friends weren't nearly as committed to the idea as I was and if your group isn't down for the full experience then you're going to fail.

So I keep tabling the idea for another day and I long to just fucking spit out my ideas on a microphone with some good friends, bullshitting our way through each episode. I know that eventually I'll be able to get the right combination together and it will launch when the time is right. I just hate this frustrating feeling that keeps at me.

All things in their time; all things in their time.

Metamorphosis Alpha Kickstarter

I've been looking for a copy of the 1e Metamorphosis Alpha game for the better part of the last year and now James Ward has liscenced Goodman Games to produce a deluxe volume. I wish I could get the book cheaper but . . . Fuck it. It's the game I've been looking for; I'm in.

Holy Shit Homestarr Runner Just Updated!

No lie.

http://homestarrunner.com/

Palladium Books Buyout

This morning it was announced that Wizards of the Coast would be purchasing long time independent publisher, Palladium Books. According to industry insiders this purchase is an attempt by Hasbro to strengthen the Wizards of the Coast line by providing them with a more versatile base setting that will allow the company to easily integrate their various lines within the Dungeons and Dragons game.

Artist concept piece provided by Jim Haltom

Mike Mearls, lead designer on the new edition of Dungeons and Dragons, was said to be excited at the prospect of integrating Dungeons and Dragons with highly profitable Hasbro mainstays such as G.I. Joe, Transformers, and My Little Pony. When reached for a statement Mearls said, "I can't wait to bring Optimus Prime and Twilight Sparkle in against Tiamat when we launch! Since we got the news of this acquisition we've been rewriting the entire Tyranny of Dragons storyline to integrate as many of the Hasbro lines as we can!"

While there are many who see this purchase of Palladium as a good thing, long time Palladium fans greated the news with outrage and disbelief. "You know first there was the whole treachery thing and we thought we were going to lose our game forever, yet we rallied behind Kevin and pushed Palladium back from the edge. And now he's gone and sold it all. I hope his 15 pieces of silver were worth it all," said one Palladium forum member. 

When I contacted Kevin Siembieda about the deal and some of the outrage sparked on the Palladium boards he replied, "This purchase was about keeping the Palladium lines viable in a market where the competition is only getting more intense. By selling our lines to Hasbro we've ensured that our products won't just be a footnote in the history of this hobby, but that they'll be one of the major bulletin points."

Because I Love U, and Only You.