Polymath

Prison Tycoon sneak peak

I picked up a copy of Prison Tycoon on my last visit to ----'s, maybe two weeks ago, and have just gotten around to trying it out.

I don't have any particularly high expectations -- it is a tycoon game after all, and released by ValuSoft. Other company names on the box include "VIRTUAL playground" and "Gamebryo". The box contains a CD and a folded cd insert sleeve with a few brief instructions. The manual, such as it is, is a 62k html file on the disc.

The Rise of the Something Somthing

I tried to read The Rise of the Creative Class by Richard Florida. Florida is a statistician who noticed some "interesting" correlations when looking at urban data mixed with social and occupational data. So he wrote a book. A very repetitive and anecdotal book about the rise of a "creative class", a class which completely defies any statistical or sensible definition, as its members do not have any particular economic status, geographic history, social characteristics, or occupational grouping other than being professional and [mostly] not in the service industry. Search and replace "creative" with any other adjective and you'd have an equally weighty argument for your own rising (and nonexistent) class.

I hear Florida is making a career on the lecture circuit. He must have a dynamic personality.

Darwinia Wins Award

I'm a big fan of Darwinia, so here's some news: Darwinia wins EIEF People's Choice award.

More handmade cards in the eBay store!

Now for sale in the Art by B Rickman eBay Store: more original handmade cards. This is the electronics set:

Buy one or two, or buy all five for a discount.

Nero fiddles

White House announces new head chef. Let's hope she has a fondness for pretzels.

Ukiyoe-Gallery

I recently sold several original prints to Ukiyoe-Gallery, an Oregon based print dealer specializing in Japanese Prints. The gallery has over a thousand prints in their listings; look for "Limited Edition Modern Prints by Brandon Rickman" in gallery #4.

Handmade cards in the eBay store

Now for sale in the Art by B Rickman eBay Store: original handmade cards. Here's a sample design:

More card designs coming soon -- there are 13 in all.

Eyezmaze Grow RPG

For those who were intrigued by a little game called Grow, there is now Grow RPG. The mechanics are still the same, despite the "RPG" in the name, and the game overall is much easier (only 8 items instead of 12), but there is a stronger relationship between the elements than in the original.

PIGGRASH 2005 part 3

I have developed a theory about the exhibition floor at SIGGRAPH: The quality of exhibition booths is inversely proportional to the density of book publisher booths. Because the number of publishers stays relatively constant from year to year (publishing is a slowly growing industry), a lower density means more non-publisher booths overall. For example, last year the publisher density was higher, because the overall exhibition was smaller.

SIGGARPH2005 part 2

Tuesday night there was a presentation by Side Effects Software (makers of Houdini) at Union Station. Free t-shirts were promised, followed by a party with free drinks til late. Getting to the party involved waiting 45 minutes in line with a thousand people, while they check IDs. Once inside, there were four bars serving the drinks, each with 30 or 40 people waiting in line to get drinks (for themselves and three of their friends). At this point I hear someone proclaim: "This is the best party I've been to in a long time." Oh, did I mention there were some tacky go-go dancers off to the side of the main room? So if mobs are your thing, you would have enjoyed the party.

SIGPARGH2005 day 1

The internet ghetto is located in the far right corner of the registration area. Some 30 desktops sit on standing height podiums, with no chairs. The desktops are on the floor, such that if you were to move your feet too close to the power switch, you might accidentally kick the machine and hit the power switch, losing whatever you had been working on. Now I have to rewrite this.

So I'm sitting on the floor with my pda and folding keyboard. My laptop died earlier this spring. My pda is wireless-less, so I'll have to upload this later this evening.

Art by B Rickman eBay Store

Visit the Art by B Rickman eBay Store, where you can buy some original woodcut prints made by yours truly.

You can view more prints in my Gallery.

SIGGIRAFFE 2005

The giraffe is back in town. I held a mock debate with myself to decide if I should go, but given the locality and the rarified opportunity it presents I'll at least pick up an "exhibits plus" pass.

There was a rumor that the Facade characters will be around, if so they should contact me for ONE FREE DRINK.

Looking for an aggregated conference blog, there has to be to one out there somewhere.

Note to self: business cards