- Improve my email communication skills. How I communicate online is very different from how I am in person even though I use the same words.
- Standard losing weight goal: Get down to 165lbs by my birthday.
- Keep future house project on schedule.
- Spend more time with my boys.
- Write a fantasy novel for publication.
- Put more effort into being a better husband.
- Spend more time with friends (George, Sherry, Pat, Paul, Kristin, Kirk, Phil, etc.).
- Get the lower level of the Stardock building finished to start hiring second games team.
- Take a real vacation this year (i.e. not just "working" vacations).
- Participate more in our communities.
Since 9/11, I don’t travel nearly as much as I used to. It’s not because I worry about terrorists or that the cost has changed. It’s because air travel has become such a hassle. If you travel once or twice a year, the process for getting from the terminal to the airplane may not be that big of a deal. But if you’re a frequent traveler, it’s a royal pain. For me, the biggest problem is airport security. I absolutely hate having to take off my shoes and having to take my lapt...
Around a campfire tonight my 5 year old daughter started singing to the moon. It went something like this: I love you moon I wish you were part of my family I love you moon If I could breath in space I would run out and hug you I love you moon If you were a human I would kiss you on the cheek I love you moon I wish you could live with us or at least near the sun But I wouldn't look directly at you if you were too close to it Because it would make me go...
If you’re into maps, you may want to check this one out .
What is the best way to have a civil online community? There are lots of opinions on this. My position has always been to eliminate toxic users as quickly as possible. Ban them. Debating a topic: Good. Personalizing the debate: Getting onto thin ice. Attacking people in the debate: Over the line. Over on Neowin.net, we’ve been trying to find ways to clean up the forums. News comments and forum posts there are pretty rough and much of that is, I bel...
After reading the book One Second After we had an interesting discussion over on JoeUser about the subject. One user said that humans had adapted and were far too enlightened today to revert to violence and mayhem in the absence of our modern conveniences. So let’s walk through the EMP scenario: Day 1: July Year 200x 5 container ships in the gulf of Mexico fire medium range SCUD missiles high into the atmosphere until it reaches far above Kansas and other states....
Wow! Lots of PMs and tweets regarding yesterday’s article on what would happen with the collapse of the grid . Let me first say that I make no claims to be an expert on EMP. There are a lot of people who are convinced that a reasonably strong EMP would disable modern cars. I don’t happen to agree with that view. Hopefully we’ll never find out. I’m going to assume that the most likely doomsday scenario people will likely face will be a long-term power...
About a year ago, I wrote “The lights go out: What happens if the grid goes down” . It talked about what would likely happen if the power went out and works through the first 4 weeks. In short, it’s not a pretty picture. Doomsday Scenarios Below are my opinions and just my opinions. They’re based on reading and researching these topics in my spare time out of morbid curiosity. I define a doomsday scenario as a scenario where the civil society could potentially break do...
Recently I was involved in a discussion regarding the two Boston Marathon bombers. It started off with someone expressing concern about the amount of anger and hatred being directed towards the bombers. I am dismayed and afraid about the amount of hate and vengeance for the two who planted the bombs. It is spreading the attitude of vengeance in our country. I saw a quote from Ghandi this morning which I have not verified, but it struck me as true. "An eye for an eye will make...
I’ve taken tests like this before. Very interesting to see where people end up. Here’s the test: http://www.politicalcompass.org/test Technorati Tags: Brad Wardell , Political Compass , Draginol , Ideology My result: http://www.politicalcompass.org/printablegraph?ec=1.00&soc=-3.18
When looking for hobbies, I wanted to do something that got me off the computer. Not just because all my muscles had atrophied into an E.T. like husk…but mostly. I’ll update this with what the garden looks like now but here’s what I went with: Here we’ve got onions, lettuce, parsley, carrots, cucumbers and tomatoes. We also planted 1 little Morning glory plant…My son Alex and I “take care” of this one. here we’ve got some strawberries, black berries...
Recently there was an article on Wired that interviewed some people about how the death of Steve Jobs affected them. I was interviewed for the article and how I massively cut down my hours and started handing things off to others as I realized that I was slowly wrecking myself working such crazy hours and being away from my family. One of the smaller changes is that I now bring my dog to work. Pictured here is Stardock’s Vice President, Derek Paxton with my dog Bailey. ...
So this year I took up gardening as a hobby. And my boys wanted to have pumpkins and a few of them have already come in. The best pumpkin has already “detached” itself from the vine. I’m wondering if it’ll “stay good” until Halloween time. Anyone out there with experience in this?
There’s a show on National Geographic called “Doomsday Preppers”. I’ve never watched it. But I have read a number of blogs from people on the subject and I’ve become convinced that most people, even those into “prepping”, haven’t thought through what would be the likely, and even predictable, steps our society would take as it self-destructed. The doomsday scenarios I have seen discussed revolve around one of the topics below: Economic coll...
I run a software company. I have for over 20 years. Once in awhile, someone will ask me what my “net worth” is. I have to respond, “It depends on whether you value intellectual property”. Intellectual property, IP, would be things my software company owns or has rights to such as Galactic Civilizations or Start8 or our websites and our patents and trademarks. How much are they worth? It depends. There are a number of ways of valuing intellectual property. If the...