At 12:09am Ashley Grace Wardell was born.  Mom and daughter are both well. 

Debbie's at the hospital now.  Only a few hours to go.  I've managed to get a very low powered connection to the net via my Verizon wireless connection. Not fast enough to do very much but fast enough to hang out on #stardock and #joeuser and #galciv on irc.stardock.com if anyone's interested. (on as Frogboy)

I just got the call from my wife that she's going into the hospital to have our third child so it's not looking good that we're going to get this up tonight. I am pulling the updates from the team and putting them together. The hospital does have Internet access so if it's a long labor..well I might be able to use Remote Desktop to make the build and upload it... (whack as my wife kills me) Some of the (okay a lot of the fixes) were things to fix things we bugged in beta 1. In the meant...

As some people know, I was a huge fan of Total Annihilation. It is, definitely, my favorite game of all time. So much so that I've cleared months of my schedule in 2007 to dedicate playing, modding, and enjoying Supreme Commander, developed by Chris Taylor's new team. I'm just so excited for this game. More so than any other game ever. I've made sure that all my project management and coding duties are reasonably clear during that time frame so I can fully get the most out of that time. ...

As I've mentioned previously , the universe that Galactic Civilizations exists in has been swishing around for a very long time. Back before I could even program, I always hoped to write it. I never thought that the way that the story and characters would manifest themselves would be in a computer game. But that is how it has gone so far. Galactic Civilizations I barely touched on it other than through random events. The expansion pack, Altarian Prophecy, touched on it a bit more. And ...

Every day is a battle. A battle between fight or flight. A battle between positive and negative interpretation. One of the things I've learned over the years is that happiness and unhappiness are largely chemical states in the brain.  Things like money and material wealth don't help with happiness. They can, at best, limit the number of negative vectors. That is, decrease the number of things that can cause stress. But the clever mind can always find new things to work with.  ...

The 1.3 builds of Galactic Civilizations II will be in beta for longer than some of the previous versions.  It's not so much that we think it's buggy but the fact that we don't want to do a 1.3, 1.31, 1.32, 1.33 and so on.  Plus, if there ARE bugs in these builds, we can say "Well it's a beta". After all, weaseling is what sets us apart from the animals...well...you know..except the weasel. The 1.3 builds are designed to extend the playable lifespan of the game. To eliminate annoyan...

The Reluctant   A Graphic Novel Outline   Brad Wardell, July 2006   Chapter 6: Retribution Chapter 5: Monsters & Eternity Chapter 4: My dad isn’t a hero Chapter 3: You will do what we tell you to do… Chapter 2: We're from the government... Chapter 1: They're coming for you Ha Ha.     DL and Mr. Miller are sitting in the living room of DL’s home. Ethan is playing in the other room.   DL looks up...

The Reluctant   A Graphic Novel Outline   Brad Wardell, July 2006   Chapter 5: Monsters & Eternity Chapter 4: My dad isn’t a hero Chapter 3: You will do what we tell you to do… Chapter 2: We're from the government... Chapter 1: They're coming for you Ha Ha.     Mr. Miller, Amanda Miller’s father and DL Bradley’s father-in-law has arrived at DL Bradley’s house.   The Millers were very close to their ...

The Reluctant   A Graphic Novel Outline   Brad Wardell, July 2006   Chapter 4: My dad isn’t a hero Chapter 3: You will do what we tell you to do… Chapter 2: We're from the government... Chapter 1: They're coming for you Ha Ha.   Inside a bunker. Inside a conference room. Around a long table men are meeting including agent Bill Gerard who is being interviewed by a general in dress uniform.   General: You sa...

As some people know, the back story to Galactic Civilizations is based on a series of story manuscripts I wrote back many years ago (circa 1988 to 1992). The Dread Lords and the Arnor are the same race. Just different sides in a war. But what were they?  Bits and pieces have floated around.  The handle I use on JoeUser.com and elsewhere "Draginol" is a character from this back story.  And he was one of the Mithrilar.  So any discussion of the Arnor and Dread Lords s...

So you want to make a DVD eh? Well good luck. Because no matter what you do, no matter your expertise, it's going to take up time. A lot of time. Whether it be a Mac or a PC, video editing, from the moment you hook up a cam corder to your PC to the actual burning of the final DVD seems destined to suck your life force out. Why is that anyway? I've talked to a lot of people on this and it's the same story -- the software that manipulates video in any way shape or form seems intentionally slow ...

The Reluctant   A Graphic Novel Outline   Brad Wardell, July 2006   Chapter 3: You will do what we tell you to do… Chapter 2: We're from the government... Chapter 1: They're coming for you Ha Ha.   DL sits across a table from a man in a black suit inside what appears to be a bunker. Cement surrounds them both. Behind DL is a door that is closed.   Agent: The blood test confirms you are human. You are not one of...

The Reluctant   A Graphic Novel Outline   Brad Wardell, July 2006   Chapter 1: They're coming for you Ha Ha. Chapter 2: We're from the government...     In a make shift army tent outside Ethan’s school we see DL and a military officer. Beyond the tent it is a hive of activity as news crews pull in to learn more about what has just occurred in Plainwell , PA …   Officer: Name?   DL: DL...

The Reluctant   A Graphic Novel Outline   Brad Wardell, July 2006   Prologue   I don’t know when they came. They’ve been here as long as I have. They came to our world and toppled regimes and overthrew governments.   Some fought back while others capitulated.   What they want, what they truly want, remains a mystery. Power. Control. Obedience. These seem to be means to some dark end.     They are power...