So Cute, Yet So Deadly

So I read this article, about robot wine tasters. My first thought was… Oh that’s cute. Look at the cute little robot with its cute little robot face and cute little robot voice… And it’s a wine taster. How cute!

Then I started thinking about it a little more and I thought, Wait. Wine tasting? We’ve got a robot that can differentiate between different chemical compositions and we’re using it to test wine. Really? Really?

Because that seems like a stupid waste of technology. Seems like this robot could be testing food for the FDA. Then, maybe we wouldn’t have so many cases of food contaminent related illnesses? Maybe we could use it to test water tables and supplies? Then maybe there wouldn’t be so many birth defects in places where factories were dumping their wastes into the water table. (And don’t say that doesn’t happen any more. You know it does.)

And how does the robot feel about this? After thinking about this a third time, this paragraph stood out:

When a reporter's hand was placed against the robot's taste sensor, it was identified as prosciutto. A cameraman was mistaken for bacon.

I’m guessing the robot’s not too happy about having such a useless job. This is the robot saying “Drink it your own, lazy self. I don’t even like wine. Don’t make me use my robot teeth on you.”

You’ve been warned, people.

The One Where Patwoman Goes To The State Fair And Then Makes Her Annual Giant Rooster Joke

Let’s just get it out of our system right off the bat.
Oh look! A 36 inch cock!

Okay, so State Fair! Luckily for me, they extended the fair this year, so I was able to go after GenCon. And you know, you’ve gotta go to the State Fair. Where else can you get so many wonderful deep fried foods? (I can’t wait for the deep fried stick of butter. Whenever they invent that, I’m getting one.)

Seriously. Put it on a stick, bread it, deep fry it. I’m there.

It is my tradition to start with the grilled corn on the cob. It is Indiana, you know. (This is not me, btw. I just ate my corn like I had just escaped a prison camp and then realized I hadn't taken a picture. So I was forced to nab a pic from the State Fair web site. Shhh.) But, after inhaling it, I quickly moved on to:

Polish sausage with grilled onions and peppers

Corn dog with mustard

Chocolate ice cream cone

Lemon shake up

Snow cone

I also checked out the farm equipment because… I don’t know. It was there. It was massive. I just walked over to look.

I did see this very interesting warning sign on the combine. It was humorous to me (like that warning sticker on the hot water heater) and I thought… Nobody would get in front of the scoop plates on a combine. That’s stupid. Who the heck is that warning designed for?

Not five minutes later, that question was answered. (By the way, she’s not making her kids get down from that thing, she’s putting them on it.)

Back To Work

Of course I had my day-before-work insomnia last night. Couple that with the fact that I’m used to staying up late during the Con. And my feet hurt all the way up to my armpits. So, it’s difficult to get up when that @#$% alarm clock goes off at 6 am.

But I made it to work. Made it on time. And remembered all my computer passwords for work. Still, I sometimes get a little surly when I go back to work after a vacation really, anything more than a regular weekend.

So I came up with these Reasons Why Vacations Are Bad:

* Too much fun during vacations only serves to remind you how uneventful other days are
* Hard to remember the route to work when your car wants to automatically head to the Convention Center
* Not having a massive bag full of game paraphernalia is making my shoulder feel underworked
* Home cooked meals are a letdown after eating at a different restaurant every day (well, a letdown if you’re the one cooking, anyway)
* Sitting in a chair instead of walking on my bloody foot-stumps just feels weird now
* Have to keep reminding yourself to not use game-related phrases, so as not to “freak out the norms”
* Twelve more months until next Gen Con!

Another GenCon, Come And Gone

And what an exciting one it was, in fact. Lots going on. Lots.

As you know, T & I ran the second in our series of Western Cthulhu Live Events. This one, Low Plains Drifter, was just as successful as the first. (This one featured a 9-foot Aztec God of Death!)

We got to meet several people this year, as always, and also see some people we only see at GenCon!

Plus, I got this:

You know I loves me some Winchester Brothers. Can’t wait to play it!

Also got to attend another Tracy Hickman seminar. What fun! This one was about X-treme DMing (or XDMing, as the cool kids call it). What a great sense of humor he has. Granted, this particular seminar (and book) was about gaming and I know that not all of you are into that. But you can see this humor in his other books, as well. It’s just a little more subtle.

One of these days, I will stand in line to be killed during Hickman’s Killer Breakfast. But, alas, I really am not clever enough for that and probably would provide very little entertainment.

Also picked up the 3rd Ed. Earthdawn books. All of them. Because you know you can’t leave GenCon with money in your pockets, right? And Earthdawn is an awesome game system. And a very interesting “history” of the Earthdawn universe.

I picked up some artwork. (You knew that I would.) And will be picking up some more in the near future from a great fantasy artist named Jeff Himmelman. We’ve known Jeff for a couple of years now and have watched his art mature.

Got this card game, too. Haven’t playtested it yet. I bought it pretty much just based on 1) It’s by Eden Studios, so it’s bound to be cool and 2) It’s Army of Darkness… Are ya kiddin’ me?

Feet are a mangled mess of pain after walking on basically cement floor of the convention center. I’m going to give you a mental image here… Imagine my gladiator sandals. Now imagine The Play-Doh Fun Factory. That’s where I’m at.