Rabu, Februari 26, 2020

UPS - Pending delivery

Dear Customer,

We attempted to deliver your item at 1:30pm on 24th February, 2020. (Read enclosed file details)
The delivery attempt failed because nobody was present at the shipping address, so this notification has been automatically sent.


If the parcel is not scheduled for re-delivery or picked up within 72 hours, it will be returned to the sender.

Label Number: (Read enclosed file details)
Class: Package Services
Service(s): (Read enclosed file details)
Status: e-Notification sent

Read the enclosed file for details.

UPS Customer Service.

Isnin, Februari 24, 2020

Not So Lucky!

What's going on everyone!?


Today was spent running errands and preparing for our big move to our new place so by the time we got home this evening, everyone was ready for bed. 


That being the case, I decided to play a solo game of Carcassonne on the mobile app for the #2019gameaday challenge. 

Tonight I got my butt kicked by the Ai which surprised me because I thought I was actually doing good, lol!

As always, thank you for reading and don't forget to stop and smell the meeples! :)

-Tim

Ahad, Februari 23, 2020

Ieza PrettyGlamz menghantar mesej kepada perbualan "Mdm · BUBUR ASYURA KEDAH."

    Ieza PrettyGlamz menghantar mesej kepada perbualan "Mdm · BUBUR ASYURA KEDAH." Ieza dan Mdm yang lain juga dalam perbualan ini.   Buka Messenger   Anda perlu menggunakan Messenger untuk melihat dan memberi respons kepada mesej Ieza . Dengan Messenger, anda boleh teks, dan membuat panggilan suara dan video secara percuma (data mudah alih standard dan caj mesej teks terpakai).      
   
 
   MessengerBuka Messenger
 
   
   
 
 
Ieza PrettyGlamz menghantar mesej kepada perbualan "Mdm · BUBUR ASYURA KEDAH." Ieza dan Mdm yang lain juga dalam perbualan ini.
 
Buka Messenger
 
Anda perlu menggunakan Messenger untuk melihat dan memberi respons kepada mesej Ieza. Dengan Messenger, anda boleh teks, dan membuat panggilan suara dan video secara percuma (data mudah alih standard dan caj mesej teks terpakai).
 
 
 
   
   
 
Mesej ini telah dihantar ke jkkbatuban.iszu@blogger.com. Jika anda tidak ingin menerima emel-emel ini daripada Facebook pada masa depan, sila Berhenti melanggan.
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Seorang rakan mahu anda suka Halaman di Facebook

 
Peringatan: Nopie Sahlan menjemput anda untuk menyukai NP SkMagic.
   
 
   Permintaan daripada Rakan
 
   
   
 
Hai Mdm,
Nopie Sahlan menjemput anda untuk suka NP SkMagic
page_profile_pictureNP SkMagicProduk/Perkhidmatan
 
 
Suka
 
 
 
Papar Semua Jemputan
 
Terima kasih,
NP SkMagic
 
   
   
 
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🎂 Let Esther Cheah know you are thinking of her on her birthday today!

 
  Wish Esther Cheah a happy birthday   Ahad, 23 Februari 2020       Esther Cheah   Tuliskan pada garis masanya    
   
 
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Wish Esther Cheah a happy birthday
 
Ahad, 23 Februari 2020
 
   
Esther Cheah
 
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Sabtu, Februari 22, 2020

Shea Butter Variants (Monday Musings 82)

At the risk of sounding twee or like Maria Bamford's imitation of a high maintenance customer, nevertheless, I feel compelled to write about the various Shea butter types as it can help anyone with dry skin - though if you suffer from moderate to severe eczema, consult your dermatologist.

Growing up, I had extremely dry skin that during the winter months, my hands cracked with thin bleed lines. I wasn't surprised when I was diagnosed with eczema a couple of decades later.

My dermatologist recommended the extremely cost-effective petroleum jelly, i.e. Vaseline which works very well for my eczema, which is mild. I'm not sure how effective it is for those with more severe forms of eczema.

The only issue is that petroleum jelly feels horrible, so I dread taking a shower because it means putting on the Vaseline when I was initially compliant with my dermatologist's recommendation. Vaseline felt so bad that eventually I stopped using it. I'd rather deal with dry skin (only using Vaseline when I absolutely had to) then using it on a regular basis.

Because of my non-compliance with Vaseline, I had an eczema flair. Because I didn't want to use Vaseline for the rest of my life, I researched the alternatives. 100% raw and organic African Shea butter kept coming up as the best alternative, given the fact that it has antioxidants and known for its remarkable moisturizing powers - but it has to be raw to keep its healing properties, noted the many sources.

On Amazon, I was searching through raw organic Shea butters that are fair trade and has an expiration date, and I found two that met the description at the time. One of them, Amazon is no longer selling, so the second time, I bought the other brand.

The type of Shea Butter I initially bought was West African Shea butter, imported from Ghana. Because it's raw, therefore no processing, it's "clumpy" but if you warm it in your hands, it melts though there may be some smaller chunks as you apply, which is no big deal.

The feel is absolutely luxuriant, and my alligator skin felt almost like baby skin. My dermatologist even remarked how soft my skin was. In other words, the Western Shea butter works and feels better than Vaseline - not only does it feel better, but it feels wonderful. The only difference between the two is that after washing your hands 2 times you have to reapply the butter, whereas Vaseline, I only had to reapply after 4 hand washings, but that's not a problem at all.

African Shea butter is the clear winner over petroleum jelly, at least for dry to very dry/mild eczematous skin. I can't speak for moderate to severe eczema.

The issue with the West African Shea butter is that it has a rather strong odor, though once applied, the smell dissipates. However in time, it became unpleasant to me, that again, I was non-compliant. The first Shea butter expired (I probably only used it a dozen times), and same with the second Shea butter expiring, purely because of the smell. Albeit, after application, you don't smell it.

As this second Shea butter expired as well, as usual in Amazon searches, I stumbled upon an East African Shea butter (imported from Uganda) that is also 100% raw, organic and fair trade, with expiration date. This company noted that Eastern Shea butter has more nutrients than its Western counterpart, and also has a lighter smell and better absorption. Upon receiving this new Eastern variant, they were absolutely right about the much lighter smell. The smell was significantly more pleasant than the stronger smelling butter. 

This new Shea butter still has the smoky, buttery smell to it, but it's very mild, and didn't make me gag. I would say it's not pleasant but not unpleasant so I have no hesitation in slathering it on. Further, the fragrance disappears after application.

Upon application, the lovely East African Shea butter melted much easier with no clumps, and so much easier to apply as it absorbs much better than the Western variant. This is the first time that I no longer fear taking a shower (at risk of dry, itchy and painful skin) because this new Eastern Shea butter is so luxurious in feel and moisturizes phenomenally that I can take multiple showers a day and not be dry, as long as I apply this amazing butter.

However, I'm not sure about the claims that East African Shea butter is more nutrient-rich than the West African type. All I know is that experiencing both, the worse smelling one moisturizes equally well as the better smelling Shea butter. In other words, they both work equally well in moisturizing.

Both types are incredible, luxurious-feeling moisturizers - I just found the Eastern one more pleasant in smell and easier to apply.

Conclusion: You can't go wrong with either Shea Butters - though the East African Shea Butter originating from Uganda smells and applies better than the West African Shea Butter from Ghana.

The How of Happiness Review

🎂 Let Djemil Tahir know you are thinking of him on his birthday today!

 
  Wish Djemil Tahir a happy birthday   Sabtu, 22 Februari 2020       Djemil Tahir   Tuliskan pada garis masanya    
   
 
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Sabtu, 22 Februari 2020
 
   
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Jumaat, Februari 21, 2020

Storium Theory: Limiting Your Limitations

Today, I'd like to write a bit about something that I think we all do as narrators from time to time: Limiting the options that players have for writing about a situation.

Limits are good. Limits, at their base, are a way of ensuring that the scene has focus. When we set up a challenge at all, we are putting limits on the scene in general - limits of saying "the scene is now about this problem, and it needs to be addressed." We're defining what the actual problem is, and to some extent unavoidably defining the sort of things that can be done to address the problem.

But it's important to recognize when we take these definitions too far.

I've been playing a roleplaying game outside of Storium recently, using some pre-prepared scenarios that I found, and I've been struck by something in reading those scenarios: Oftentimes, they focus extensively on what definitely won't work. They spend a lot of time discussing why the players should absolutely not try a particular tactic with a situation, and how many brick walls can be thrown in their way should they dare to attempt such a thing. They're not quite set up to allow only one path forward, but they dwell a lot on why solutions A, B, C, D, E, and F are all terrible ideas that will only increase the scenario's difficulty. They show the walls, not the paths forward.

I've noticed a similar mindset subtly sneaking into Storium games at times. In our challenge setups or narration, we can sometimes spend time focusing on what won't work - on the walls set up in the way of particular solutions. Maybe we show the player characters trying a solution and discovering it won't work in the opening narration. Maybe we just describe something as impossible on the card or in the outcomes or in the narration.

Sometimes, this is fine. Sometimes, this is appropriate.

But it is definitely something we should question.

Storium works best, I have found, when players have enough information to focus their writing without limiting their ideas. That is: The problem is well-defined, but the solutions are left as open as possible given the problem at hand.

If the problem is a powerful wizard who the heroes need to get past to get to their goal, the solutions could potentially involve all sorts of things - maybe the heroes manage to fight the wizard and drive him away, maybe they evade his attacks and race beyond him into the fortress. Sometimes, limiting those options is perfectly appropriate...but it's important to be careful just how far you take the limitations. For instance, it might be appropriate to say that the party has to fight the wizard, because he's set up a magical barrier over the exit or because it's just too dangerous with him raining magic around the area. But further defining that the wizard is absolutely invulnerable to non-magical attacks himself is probably going to take it too far - it'll most likely make players of non-magical characters struggle a bit to figure out how to participate in the fight. Or, alternately, it might be appropriate to say that the wizard can't be killed and the characters need to escape - the wizard is just too powerful and his defenses too strong. But it'd take it too far to say that his attacks are unstoppable and his defenses are so strong he can't even be shaken by the characters at all, most likely, because again, it seriously limits what players can write and the ideas they can come up with for the scene. Some characters might have things they can realistically write to make just running away interesting, but others might really need to be able to provide some cover for the others or manage to disrupt the wizard for just a moment (or at least, attempt to do so and get turned aside, if they're playing a Weakness).

Similarly, consider an investigation. Maybe you're asking players to find information on a criminal gang that has troubled the area. That's fine. But if you go to the extent of saying that the other gangs in the area definitely won't share their information, or that police contacts are totally mystified and have no knowledge of the gang at all, well, that's probably going to cause people some trouble. You're limiting the ways that players can write the scene, and that's likely to make it tougher for them to come up with ideas.

Remember: Storium is about helping people write. The things that you put in your narration should encourage writing, not oppose it.

That's not to say that you should totally avoid limitations. Yes, there are times that they fit the story. If it's expressly established that the gang is totally new to the area, for instance, it makes sense that the heroes might not be able to trust contacts that would be working from existing knowledge...but how are the heroes able to get the information? Word the challenge in such a way that you reveal the possibilities rather than set up the walls. And don't just give one option! Show a wider field of openings, something that lets the players still have room to get creative on their own.

And remember to ask yourself: What is this challenge actually about?

In the case of the gang, for instance: Is the question really about who the heroes are able to go to for the information they need? Or is it just about what they are able to find out? If the latter...does it really matter whether they are able to use their contacts with the police? Or is the question just about whether they find information about the gang in the first place?

I want to be clear: Sometimes it does matter how the players are able to accomplish something. Sometimes that can be a problem you need to address as narrator. Sometimes it can cause trouble for a plot if players are allowed to do things a certain way, even if that way fulfills the overall concept of the challenge. That's very true.

But not all the time.

Not even the number of times we as narrators think it is true.

So...when you're setting a challenge up, take a good look over the card and narration associated with it. Look over what you've written, and ask yourself:
  • Have I set up any limitations here I didn't intend to? Are there places where I suggest something is impossible where I didn't mean to?
  • Have I set up limitations that I intended to...but that on second thought, really don't matter? Are there places where I have put limits that will make my players struggle to write, rather than providing useful focus?
If the answer to any of those questions is "yes," think about what you can do to open things up for the players. You still want the challenge to be focused...but focused and limited are two very different things.

Convergence Of Cyriss - A Side Project




This post is going to start a hobby documentary on how to rehabilitate poorly treated used models and salvage an army using hobby skills. It'll also document my dabbling with Convergence of Cyriss from a gameplay perspective. I'm still mainlining Trolls, but I figure I'll play with my new CoC every once and a while. 

Why start Convergence?

I've had bits and pieces of CoC sitting in my closet for years. Maybe a year after release I picked up an original Prime Axiom and Transfinite Emergence Projector basically new in box for like $60 for the two of them, figuring it was a deal too good to pass up.  I also picked up a friends Aurora and Clockwork Angels when he was selling out of the faction (my wife said they were pretty).

In terms of design, they've certainly appealed to me from a gameplay perspective. With the latest release of Orion for the faction they really seem like they have the tools to be able to deal with pretty much anything, which is something PP has been setting as their goal for their limited release factions. I also kind of like the idea that once I've bought into it, I'm basically done with major purchases. It's all about experimenting with the limited toolset as the meta changes.

Also the focus induction mechanics seem really cool. I appreciate the puzzle in each game of trying to mastermind how to make the clockwork like system of getting the focus around to maximize efficiency.  I'm an engineer by trade and the way PP made that clockwork system into a game mechanic really intrigues me.

What made me actually jump into the faction was that I found two separate retail for retail trade opportunities.  Someone was looking to trade CoC for 40k Orks, and was interested in the entire lot I've been looking to offload for years.  I also found someone who wanted nearly all of the Circle I was trying to offload and we worked out equitable trades.  It's always a great value when you can do retail-for-retail trades on models you own to get models you want.  The downside is that the very large lot I got in exchange for my old Orks was largely piles of crap that I had to salvage. Luckily the trade I got for Circle was excellent.

What to do when you get badly treated used models

One mistake I made on my first trade with the Orks for CoC was not asking for pictures of the models I was trading for. Note to readers: Always Ask For Pictures When Trading On The Internet.

This ended up being pretty bad overall, since the models I got were nearly all broken, some of which looked like they were given to a young child to try and paint, and some were clearly nicely done conversions that were then traded to this person who then mistreated them.  My trade was to include an Axis and Lucant, but since the models weren't complete the person included a second version of the models, all of which still required bits orders from PP or just wholesale replacement of the model to get something functional.

Nearly every walking Vector chassis had all their legs broken off at weird angles, and two of the Inverters I got are missing the chain+flail bit altogether.  What's worse is that I found the unit of Reciprocators I received weren't actually glued to their bases. The person used blue sticky tac and then spray painted metallic spray over all of it.

I didn't take pictures before I started fixing everything, but you can see exactly how awkward the pinning/leg reattachment went on some of the jacks, as well as how bad the paint job was:

 
Nothing like sticky tac for getting models on bases!
 
It was actually piled all the way up in huge amounts. Lots of scraping to clean it up.

Talk about a mess.


You can see what lengths I went through to get the legs back on. This was the only way it'd fit.

It looks like a 5 year old was told to pain this guy. The leg in the air was the only leg actually still glued to the model when I received it.

The solution in nearly all cases was simply pinning, lots and lots of pinning legs back after dry fitting to see which pieces went with which broken jacks.  Fortunately I was able to get all my vectors up and stable on their bases.

My unit of Reciprocators were missing the tips of their halberds. These are near impossible to find bits for online, but I ended up going with the Steelsoul Protector spear from PP and luckily I was able to use the tip of the spear as a replacement for the halberds and have it work out nicely.  All in all it was $30 in bits from PP to replace parts either too broken to salvage or bits that were straight up missing. Not terrible, but not great either.

What was worse is that the Clockwork Angels and Auora model I had effectively fell apart over the years they sat in my closet.  My friend had used some really thin pins and apparently a not very good superglue.  I basically re-pinned everything with the Angels, though making sure to use a much thicker paperclip as my pinning.

Thicker pinning = Better Pinning

Between pinning up Aurora, 3 units of Clockwork Angels, and building a fresh Father Lucant, lets just say I never want to build anything like that again. My fingers still hurt from all the pinning I had to do to get those things securely built!
 
Next Steps

Once everything has been built up (I still have a few servitors to do), I'm going to apply basing material and then test out using a metallic spray paint as a base coat. I'll have to paint the base and the basing material black again, but it theoretically allows me a lot of speed up in terms of getting the army painted up quickly.  I definitely like the metal look, and I'm really keen on the idea of an easy to paint faction. 

Gaming Results

I've been wanting to play a Synergy caster since forever and now I have my first opportunity with Syntherion.  He's also got a really nice toolkit and is pretty well rounded. Apparently he's fallen out of favor with the larger meta as very few people seem to be talking about him, but I wanted to give him a shot.

Since I was playing a friend of mine who is just hopping back into the game with a brand new faction (Circle), I decided to avoid some of the more blatant power pieces like the TEP or Axiom, just giving things a go with heavies in Destruction Initiative:

Syntherion
-Corrolary
-Cipher
-Cipher
-Assimilator
-Assimilator
-Inverter
-Diffuser
Optifex Directive
Algorithmic Dispersion Optifex
Algorithmic Dispersion Optifex
Elimination Servitors
Elimination Servitors
Attunement Servitors
Attunement Servitors

I squared off against Tanith running

Feral
Stalker
Loki
Reeves of Orboros + UA
Skinwalkers + UA
Wolves of Orboros + UA
Gallows Grove x2

Unfortunately for me the first time I put CoC on the table I had…performance issues.

I initially thought that being a WM veteran of over 15 years I'd be able to master the Focus Induction mechanic in my first game. I was wrong. We weren't playing on clock since my friend isn't really used to the game yet, but if I was on clock I'd have surely clocked out given the amount of time it took me to figure out how to allocate and induct in the right order to accomplish everything I wanted to in each turn.

I was actually holding my own fairly well in the game, but a missed Magnetic Hold screwed up my plans and then after charging in on the Feral+Loki on my feat turn, I didn't realize a mistake: I charged in where I'd trigger admonition, but this charge was the last activation for me in the turn – meaning the Stalker with Admonition could move to threaten Syntherion and not worry about anything else coming in.

I also was bad at contesting when I easily could have multiple times, so rather than having to take the assassination victory, my opponent just had to kill an objective and survive a free strike to move Loki into another zone to win on scenario.

After the game I realized that taking a single TEP in the list would dramatically improve my ability to handle the 20+ infantry on the table, allowing me to better focus on getting up in the trading game.

So basically Destruction Initiative = 1 TEP minimum, at least to start.  Given how excited I am to play with that piece, let alone the possibility of a few lists running two of them, this seems like a good general principle to start with.