Thursday Things

September 14, 2017

What I’m Playing

Advanced Squad Leader – my weekly session with Doug. We are using tanks, guns, and soon motorcycles and cavalry!
Combat Commander: Europe – my semi-regular session with a friend who is soon to go active duty in the Army.
Triumph & Tragedy – A teaching session with two newcomers to this game. It was a big enough hit that we scheduled another session where we’ll be able to play through the full game.

Sing Street – Julie pointed me to this and I loved it. If you are a product of the 1980s and MTV you will love it too.
Shooter – Satisfies my Jack Bauer 24 fix, and easy to watch while I’m working on football tasks. The acting isn’t great (I think Ryan Phillipe has made his career on his looks and charisma) but the plot is fun.

I read Something New as part of a project I’m working on with Standard Ebooks (my GitHub repo). I chose the book to work on from the wanted list and it should be ready for publication within a week or two. The book is a fun, quick read. Hint: wait until I release it for free on the Standard Ebooks site if you want to read it!
I listened to the Steve Jobs biography and it was fun to learn more about his life and the different stages of his career. I remember vividly the Apple II release (and playing / programming with it non-stop at my friend’s house), the Macintosh commercial (and using it in 1984–1985 when I worked on the school newspaper), and even the NeXT computer (I worked on a physician’s workstation on the yet-to-be-released NeXT as a senior project in college).

Return of the city-state – A good reminder that our notion of a nation-state is a human construct and extremely new in human history.
You Are the Product – If you are spending significant time on Facebook, this article is a good reminder that you are essentially writing checks to the company on a daily basis. Your time and attention are worth something, right?

The Times They Are a-Changin' – This was Steve Jobs’ favorite album (and Bob Dylan was his favorite musician) so I wanted to give it a re-listen. I’ve generally stuck to Highway 61, Blood on the Tracks, and Blonde on Blonde so this was a nice change of pace.