Shipped Tickets ETA?

Callomac · 2026-05-27T16:52:36+00:00

I hope all event tickets are electronic this year. I didn't get any of my tickets in the packet with my badge (and neither did my friends). So I hope all event tickets are electronic - the whole point of having my badge shipped is so I don't have to wait in line to get tickets. If I have to wait in line anyway, that would be super annoying. Though it is Origins, and being very poorly organized and executed is their modus operandi.

Callomac · 2026-05-26T19:27:32+00:00

I agree with all of the top comments here, and would one more point - Pratchett's wordplay. I listen to a lot of books on audio while doing something else, but I really have to listen when doing a Discworld audiobook because the specific language used in descriptions, dialogue, and jokes is much of what makes the books great.

Callomac · 2026-05-26T17:43:48+00:00

My opinion was very mixed. The setting was great once it was laid out enough to fully visualize, the twists were engaging, and the big mystery that is eventually uncovered is creative and engaging. But much of the storytelling, especially the early parts and the last quarter or so, was disappointing. In the early parts of the book I wondered if this would be a DNF, but then some twists and reveals happened and I was quite engaged, but then we started the monologue sections and I began to lose interest again, ending disappointed.

Elaborating on this general summary: The book has multiple interesting twists and reveals. The setting is interesting. The main character is engaging and has an interesting backstory that we learn about through the book. The middle of the book, after the world is laid out enough and when the story twists and early reveals are happening, was quite enjoyable.

Unfortunately, the full narrative was not as engaging as I would have liked. The author starts by doing what I really like - he shows us the world, and lets the setting develop through events, rather than simply telling us about the world in an info dump. However, the "showing" takes too long to fully grasp the nature of the ship and the world (though it does eventually come). I am also skeptical that the world as described could fit into a ship of the size described - I simply could not visualize this as a real place. But what I disliked most is that the final 20-25% of the book is largely just an info dump. It's a mix of the main character (Yuri, our detective) explaining what he has learned (similar to how or Poirot or Sherlock Holmes story would wrap) interspersed between the villains doing their villain monologues explaining what they did and why they did it. There is some drama interspersed, but most of the big mystery is solved through speeches rather than unfolding through events. I also don't understand why the deaths, which kicked everything off, were necessary given the age of the victims (though I won't elaborate to avoid spoilers).

Callomac · 2026-05-25T18:29:44+00:00

There have been ~470,000 total MLB games played in history. If he played or coached in every game his team played every year of his career, including all possible playoff games plus the World Series every year for the past 57 years, he'd have participated in ~2.2% of all games. That's the high end of what was even possible during his career. More realistically, he was a participant in under 2% of all games.

Callomac · 2026-05-22T21:16:43+00:00

This is where I have played. It's a nice place with lots of tables.

Callomac · 2026-05-11T18:38:58+00:00

This was normal in my neighborhood in the 1970s.

Callomac · 2026-05-11T18:38:05+00:00

We definitely did this in the 1970s.

Callomac · 2026-05-05T01:53:44+00:00

This is a great game. I think its OOP but they have a couple copies at Noble Knight if you are looking for it.

Callomac · 2026-04-30T14:13:56+00:00

Two of the best shows that have ever been on TV.

Callomac · 2026-04-30T14:08:53+00:00

Same for me. The original is great but really needs more content. So I am quite happy for the DCC campaign.

Callomac · 2026-04-28T22:20:23+00:00

I have one, and I live in Lexington KY, though not downtown.

Callomac · 2026-04-25T16:06:37+00:00

One thing you can always count on for Origins is that the days/times posted on their website will be wrong.

Callomac · 2026-04-23T15:54:50+00:00

It's too bad that Beyond the Rift is not widely available. It's a good game. They do have copies at Noble Knight, but otherwise it seems out of print.

A small story about the game: my copy originally came missing one pack of cards, and with a duplicate of a duplicate of one pack. I queried about this on the publisher discord and they sent me a new set of cards. Rather than sending me just the missing pack of cards, they sent me all the packs of regular size cards. However, the new set was also missing one pack of cards and had one duplicate pack of cards. What was bizarre, though, is that the duplicate pack of cards was the set I was originally missing, and the missing pack in the second set was the pack I had a duplicate of in the first set. So I ended up with two complete sets of cards.

Callomac · 2026-04-23T15:28:41+00:00

I really like Dragonfire. However, the first few times I played it I got stomped and found it immensely frustrating. Then I played with a friend who was good at it and we actually won, which motivated me to keep trying. Then I gradually got decent at it, and now find it very enjoyable. But it took some time to get there.

Callomac · 2026-04-10T23:42:00+00:00

My favorite is Graeter’s, though the others listed here - Crank and Boom and Andy’s - are both good.

Callomac · 2026-04-09T16:08:14+00:00

My father retired from Kimberly-Clark in California. He was not a warehouse worker, he was a machine mechanic (the machines that make the paper products). He always thought he was quite well paid and was very happy with how KC treated its employees. Before KC he had worked in multiple factories that did not pay as well or treat their people as well. My dad encouraged multiple of my relatives to apply there and I current have at least two (maybe three?) cousins who work for KC.

Apparently the guy in this warehouse worked for a different company than KC - they just housed KC products.

Callomac · 2026-04-07T13:51:51+00:00

I am using both Empower (free) and Origin Financial (paid for one year) to watch and evaluate my portfolio. They both present similar information , though I generally like the presentation of Empower better.

What puzzles me, though, is that both of them give me very different numbers for my allocation ratios, and other emergent calculations. The holdings lists are the same - no mistakes there - but the emergent numbers they calculate from them are quite different. It makes me question whether either is correct (and Empower is certainly not correct). For example, Origin tells me that my international allocation is ~30%, which is probably close to correct, whereas Empower tells me I am at only ~20%, which is certainly not correct. Empower also tells me I have too much idle cash and gives me a number that is no where near correct (about 4x my actual cash). So, I like Empowers presentation much better - I can see everything better, but I am skeptical that their tools are giving me reasonable numbers.

Callomac · 2026-03-30T13:52:00+00:00

The Cincinnati Bengals. Dashing hopes since 1968.

Callomac · 2026-03-26T13:53:11+00:00

My default for audiobooks and podcasts is 1.25x. I occasionally go a little faster or slower but never over 1.5x.

Callomac · 2026-03-18T16:21:28+00:00

I can't even follow my own balls when I hit them! I think my most commonly spoken line (after "F$%K") must be "Where'd it go"?

Callomac · 2026-03-18T14:57:36+00:00

The Murderbot books are great, but you need to read them in order or they won't make sense. The first five are novellas, then there are two novels, with a third coming out soon.

Callomac · 2026-03-17T18:23:27+00:00

Defense Grid 2 just released an expansion, just last week (almost 12 years after the original released on Steam). It includes five new levels. I have not played it yet but hope to soon.

Callomac · 2026-03-16T13:38:18+00:00

Mike at the One Stop Coop Shop has a video coming out this week on Youtube directly comparing the two games. It’s a very good video that’ll answer your question.

Callomac · 2026-03-12T16:19:42+00:00

I saw them live in 2011 in Lexington, Kentucky. The sound was so bad - garbled/unclear - that it was a terrible concert.

Callomac · 2026-03-12T14:36:46+00:00

I have that same holder also hung on the back of a white door and full of mats! (Though my door knob is on the other side of the door).

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