Rocky thanks his daughter for finding this strange and interesting video about turning spheres inside-out without puncturing them.

Warning: Only click on the video if you like math puzzles.

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Introduction :

LEFT HAND DESKTOP WALLPAPERS | LEFT HAND STOCK PHOTOS

Idea for an installation where blue balls float as spheres above a pile of cardboard boxes

A team of U.S. researchers headed by Ji Xin Cheng have published their study in the journal Nature Nanomedicine about an experimental treatment they used in rats with spinal cord injury.

The treatment involves the use of spheres called copolymer micelles that is injected to help the animal recover its movement and prevent secondary nerve damage that frequently follows such injury.

Copolymer  micelles are essentially synthetic drug-delivery spheres nearly 60 nanometers in diameter – are approximately 100 times smaller than the diameter of a red blood cell and have been used in research for three decades as a drug-delivery vehicle.

Cheng says, however, that, “In our case, it’s a very new use of these structures. We are not using them as a drug carrier. We use them as a membrane repair agent.”

When injected into the bloodstream the spheres act as “sticking plaster” for broken nerves, patching up the injury site.

“We believe they can penetrate the membrane and fuse the membrane,” Cheng said.

Animals with spine injuries regained control in the movement of their limbs after being treated with the spheres, the study said.

The ultimate goal of this study is to see this treatment being applied on people and find out if surrounding nerves of the spine injury will be protected from further damage.

sphaira (Gk)

1. ball, Homer, Odyssey 6.100.
2. any globe (Parmenides 8.43), thus, sphere, as a geometrical figure, etc., esp. the terrestrial globe, earth (Strabo 2.3.1).
3. hollow sphere or globe: in ancient physics, from the time of Anaximander, of the spheres believed to revolve round the earth carrying the heavenly bodies, and according to the Pythagoreans arranged after the intervals of the musical scale (Cicero, Republic 6.18; Aristotle, Metaphysics 1073b18); thus, sphaira aplanês, the sphere of the fixed stars, and hai planômenai sphaira, a planetary sphere (Plutarch 2.1028a).

Athanasius Kircher’s reconstruction of the sphere of Archimedes, imitating the motion of the planets with the aid of magnets.

From Magnes, Sive de Arte Magnetica (1643 ed.) 305.

sphairopoiia (Gk)

1. artificial sphere (hence the thaumaturgic globe-makers of Alexandria of the third century BC, the first of whom was apocryphally Archimedes; see Evans and Harley & Woodward);
2. making of the heavenly spheres

cf. sphairopoièsis, “invented” by Peter Sloterdijk to describe the generation of the characteristic shape or “thought-figure” of globalisation in its metaphysical (à la the Greek philosophers), territorial (à la the Iberian voyagers) and terrestrial (à la transcendental capitalism) forms (see “Geometry in the Colossal: The Project of Metaphysical Globalization“).

Archimedes’ hefting of the idea of the globe to the status of ruling metaphor in Greek science realized Plato’s metaphysical (or, as Sloterdijk might say, cosmogonic) theory of the cosmos in the Timaeus—and, to a lesser degree, Aristotle’s On the Heavens, which, alas, superceded Plato’s through the undue influence of Ptolemy’s cosmology (the Almagest). And he found us a place to stand—which was, of course, no place at all (he was playing Atlas, as all modern scientists do) . . .

Archimedes: “Give me a place to stand on, and I will move the Earth”

(δῶς μοι πᾶ στῶ καὶ τὰν γᾶν κινάσω).

From Pappus of Alexandria, Synagoge 7.

cf. Einstein: ”it is the theory that decides what we can observe” (Timothy Ferris, The Red Limit: The Search for the Edge of the Universe [Harper Collins, 1983]) and “μοχλός (lever) and μηχανή (machine)” and “‘About the Word Design’ by Vilém Flusser.”

THE GOBO LIGHTS ARE IN!!!

For all of the loyal Tulsa Wedding DJ Connection fans out there, we now have GOBO LIGHTS!!! They are sometimes referred to as Monogram Lighting, Monogram Projection, Custom Projection Lights, etc… (you get the idea).

We can COMPLETELY customize pretty much anything you want, as detailed or simple as you would like! Below is an example of what one can look like.

The Blueish Lights crawling up the walls are Par can Lights (in which we have those as well).
Par cans are sometimes called wall lights, floor sconces, or up lighting; and they go up the wall or column accenting the room in your favorite colors.

To inquire about our up lighting or enhanced lighting,
Call up to our office now (or shortly after now): 918-481-2010

Here are some GREAT sites to inquire within:

http://www.djconnectiontulsa.com/index.cfm?id=52
http://www.jandsvista.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=509
http://www.brettadmire.com/?showimage=166
http://www.garbes.com/low-voltage_halogen/halogen.html
http://www.net-model.com/Forums/ReadThread.asp?ThreadID=756939
http://www.mywalldecals.com/m8_view_item.html?m8:item=AMON0013
http://www.mywalldecals.com/m8_view_item.html?m8:item=AMON0019
http://www.metrobuilderssupply.com/
http://www.profitfrog.com/profitable-hobbies-articles/beaded-monogram-sweaters.htm
http://www.tulsaworld.com/site/printerfriendlystory.aspx?articleID=20081118_298_WASH423723

http://ladiesof798.org/default.aspx

http://www.restockit.com/monogram-glassware.html
http://www.specialeventsoklahoma.com/blog/?p=186
http://www.restockit.com/cake-box-monogram.html
http://hudsonvalley.weddings.com/boards/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=62154705&forumid=113
http://www.gobostogo.com/order/account_new.php
http://www.partypop.com/Forums/Bar_Bat_Mitzvah/m450973.htm
http://www.getmarried.com/bloggerbrides/archive/monograms_gobo_lighting.htm
http://livedesignonline.com/theatre/lighting_plot_thickens_moving/index.html
http://www.gobosource.com/
http://www.pictureweave.com/
http://motivationalspeakertulsa.com/2009/11/04/1006/

Gobo Lights are PERFECT for:

weddings, business meetings, holiday parties, company luncheons, birthdays, proms, motivational speaking, sweet 16’s, sweet sixteens, quinceaneras, regular tuesday parties, corporate functions, mitzvahs, reunions, college parties, sororities, fraternities, gobo, gobos, custom gobo, glass gobo, stock gobo, standard gobo, the pope, lighting, image projection, gobo projector, gobo light, logo projection, vci 300, martin SCX-700, dj equipment, Studio Equipment, Pro Audio, cdj 1000 mk3, rane serato scratch, cheap dj gear, dj lighting, dj software, Technics turntable, technics 1200, dj mixers, cdj players, stage lighting, pro audio, night club, studio software, dj music, dj turn tables, president obama, dual cd player, Technics 1200mk5, dj turntable, dj headphones, Vestax, Pioneer, Boss, Roland, Denon, JBL, Behringer, Technics, Martin, Chauvet, DJ Connection, tulsa wedding, wall decals, wall decal, vinyl lettering, vinyl graphics, vinyl decals, wall words, wall graffiti, kitchen wall décor, kitchen wall decals, baby decor, nursery décor, chidrens decor, my wall decals, mywalldecals, mywalldecal, my wall decal, affordable vinyl graphics, affordable graphics, affordable vinyl, vinyl graphics, affordable vinyl graphics owasso, affordable vinyl Owasso, vinyl letters, vinyl décor, vinyl words, former President Bill Clinton, vinyl monograms, vinyl monogram, vinyl phrases, vinyl quotes, wall art, house warming gifts, wedding gift, wedding gifts, custom vinyl lettering, decorative lettering, LEDs Magazine, OLEDs, LED packaging, power LEDs, oriental decals, oriental decor, personalized gifts, rub on decals, rub on letters, vinyl lettering quotes, walmart, vinyl stickers, stencils, wall quotes, wall sayings, word wall, words for walls, beaded monogrammed sweaters, LEDs, LEDs, Solid State Lighting, Light Emitting Diodes, LED Lighting, LED backlighting, LED News, LED technology, LED Magazine, high power LEDs, high brightness LEDs, wal-mart, gallium nitride, blue LEDs, white LEDs, red LEDs, PennWell Corporation, Oklahoma State, Centennial Celebration Sooners, Wireless, Sooners, Tulsa, Centennial, Extravaganza, Productions, Olsen, omni, portable, custom, lasers, videos, projections screens, wholesale, manufacturers, cubes, colors, galas, graphics, spheres, outdoors, giant, movies, special events, vip parties, party, corporate, festivals, fashion shows, movies, concerts, product launches, sports events, inflatables, projection surface, all weather, slides, films, lighting, trade shows, decorative vinyl lettering, inspirational wall decals, nursery wall decor, holiday, laser effects, laser light show, video, entertainment, avant garde, shows, rentals, films, special effects, fx, inflatables, ilda, lighting effects, party, portable, commercials, advertising, fashions, international, usa, houston, tx, texas, ok, oklahoma, ks, kansas, ar, arkansas, mo, missouri, former President George Bush, or anyone else of equal or greater importance.

Propaganda & Highly-Biased Fun Facts about DJ Connection:

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2009 – DJ Connection was named by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as “Blue Ribbon Small Business Award” sponsored by Sam’s Club
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2009 – “Wedding Wire 2009 Bride’s Choice” Winner
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2008 “Best of the Best Wedding Award” Winner – www.weddingmba.com
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2008 Host of the 9th Annual Tulsa Apartment Association “Zenith Awards”
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In October of 2007 DJ Connection became a Better Business Bureau Accredited Business for our team’s continued excellence in customer service.
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In June of 2007 DJ Connection was featured in the Tulsa World Business Section for our recent awards and for our owner’s upcoming book “Turn Your Passion Into Profits”
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Clayton Clark owner of DJ Connection Tulsa Inc. was named the 2007 State of Oklahoma Young Entrepreneur of the Year.
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During the early summer of 2007 DJ Connection was featured in Oklahoma Magazine’s feature entitled “40 under 40″ which was an article describing Oklahoma’s top 40 entrepreneurs under the age of 40.
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During the calendar year of 2006 DJ Connection donated $10,000 + of service to local Oklahoma charities including March of Dimes and Relay for Life.
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DJ Connection received recognition from the “American Wedding Association” as Tulsa’s Best Wedding Vendor in 2006.
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DJ Connection was named “The number-one DJs in the Tulsa area…They are great party executors” by Modern Bride Magazine in their December/January 2005 edition
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DJ Connection is a proud member of Tulsa Bridal Association
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DJ Connection, DJ Clay and the rest of the DJ Connection staff volunteered over 100 hours of work with local (Tulsa) in school peer and mentor groups.
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DJ Connection Tulsa Inc. is an ecstatic member of the American Wedding Association
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DJ Connection Tulsa Inc. received the 2002 Tulsa Metro Chamber of Commerce Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
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DJ Connection Tulsa Inc. is an ecstatic member of the Tulsa Metro, Bixby & Broken Arrow Chambers of Commerce.
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DJ Connection Tulsa is a proud member of the Better Business Bureau “Excellence In Customer Service Honor Roll.”
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Clay Clark co-owner of DJ Connection was featured in September of 2003 on “Oklahoma’s News Channel 8’s Good Morning Oklahoma” with Lori Montag of Montag Photography for their role as President and Vice President of the Tulsa Bridal Association respectively.
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Tulsa DJ Rabu “Flava” Leyva was named the “Outstanding Casanova of the Year” by his beautiful wife Kena.
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“The average human head weighs 8.1 lbs!”

Dépêchez vous, le temps passe ! Exposition, du 13 septembre au 13 décembre 2009
Dans la cour d’Honneur, la cour Royale, les escaliers Gabriel et de la Reine, et les jardins du château de Versailles Accès à l’exposition par la cour d’Honneur du château de Versailles

Vue de la Lune en anamorphose, sur le Tapis Vert.

Et un blog vraiment bien fait, qui explique le déroulement et les différentes étapes de mise en place de l’exposition:

http://www.veilhan-versailles.com/blog/

http://archeologue.over-blog.com/article-36548088.html

http://www.myspace.com/hannahschneidermusic

http://www.myspace.com/quadronquadron

Concerts and beer by an Art exhibition… “Rethink climate“.

This is something I did in Maya this week. A texture of sorts. I plan on using it for my next project in my 3D Animation class.

Bonjour mes Amours,

Bien que dire hé oui, déjà un mois avec Moto-Men, ça passe vraiment vite, je le crois pas.  Je parle avec lui et il me dit : 2 tu réalises, un mois déjà ! je lui dis : hein un mois!…. Il me semble que nous venons de nous rencontrer… Faut dire que quand on vit le bonheur, le temps s’arrête on ne voit plus rien et c’est bien ce qui se passe.  Toutefois, je suis en grand questionnement, je sais pas pour vous mais y’a des moments dans notre vie où on se dit qu’on doit dormir, on passe rapidement et on réalise qu’on a pas fait grand chose de sa vie…

Je veux changer le monde, big deal ! Comment laisser sa trace, comment devenir connu, comme nous sommes un grain de sable dans l’Univers, je ne veux pas qu’on m’oublie et je suis certain que vous vous questionnez de-même ! Comment devenir un individu qui change la destinée de la vie, de sa vie….. devenir important ça c’est important, mais la question comment ?  que faire ? se démarquer ! créer ! Je ne sais vraiment pas, devenir héros !, il y en as tant !  Aimer son prochain ! ça je peux le faire et ça ne fait pas de bruit, sauf que moi je veux en faire!  Il y a des gens qui sont bien dans le silence, moi je veux crier, parler faire du bruit… Mais je ne sais pas quoi… Bon vous direz, ça y est, la Vilaine dérape et vous n’aurez pas tord, je dérape parce que je veux faire quelque chose faire du bruit… mais quoi… Madonna sauve les enfants en Afrique, Gandhi à soulevé tout un peuple, Obama le premier Noir Président, Neil Armstrong le premier sur la lune, Mère Théresa… la liste est longue…  Je veux quoi moi ?  être le premier Gai qui fait quoi !  Moi j’suis comme vous je veux laisser ma trace mais comment ?  C’est existentiel et pourquoi pas !  sinon c’est quoi le sens de tout ça.. je ne sais pas ! J’ai besoin de faire des grandes choses pour être important, que d’aimer les gens autour de soi pour laisser sa trace…  Aimer encore plus, ouf, là ça demande quelque chose qui me dépasse… Le premier gai qui aime plus que tout!

Ben on va repasser, faudrait que j’apprenne à m’aimer en premier, pis ça c’est l’histoire d’une vie… pis je veux faire plus du bruit et maintenant… Mais comment ? je dois me pencher sur ça, depuis vendredi j’y pense….

Oui je suis mégalomane et pourquoi pas ! Je veux me sentir important et si je trouve la recette je vous la donne c’est sur !… et elle doit être simple cette recette miracle !  l’ennui c’est que je suis certain qu’elle est différente pour chacun de nous alors ce qui s’applique à moi ne s’applique pas à tous….

Si je pouvais créer un mouvement ! ou tous les gens qui se sentent  inconnus et qui désirent devenir vivants et connus, trouver les mots, les idées qui font que des gens on le goût de se dépasser de rendre le monde meilleur autour d’eux !  Dans la vie il y a le sexe et il y a l’amour et L’amitié comment trouver l’équilibre devenir le meilleur dans ces 3 sphères Et ne me dites pas que c’est incompatible!

Le dépassement de soi pourquoi pas… la virtuosité, moi j’y crois! à me lire, on a les cheveux qui se dresse sur la tête, mais j’ai de grandes aspirations moi tout comme vous….. Mais je ne sais pas ce que je veux… Je vais trouver et je vais revenir..

Avec l’idée du siècle !  Bonne semaine… bon je vais aller faire ma vaisselle…….. Et donne aux suivants!

Well, the trees-and-mountains theme gets more prominent in my doodles than even foxes.  I guess that’s because I am spending too little time outside these days (midterms keep me busy).  Birds are also new.  The zoological theme in general is probably inspired by the Russian tortoise pet I got yesterday.

Week 8 sketch: trees, mountains, etc.

So here’s a quick n’ dirty version of the game. Haven’t yet tested it, but it should work well enough.

The game needs at least 3 participants. The players sit in a circle. Before the actual play starts, two things must be established: the names of the Spheres the characters will be in race to research, and the True Names of the characters.

A (untested) change I made from the original is to change Spheres from a straightforward pool that you have to decrease to zero to a series of numbers that you have to roll. All Spheres have the follow series of values: (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7). During the game, you’ll roll as many d6 as you wish to spare, any numbers that come up are crossed out from the Sphere, representing successful breakthroughs. The (7) is obviously a bit more tricky – will get to that in a bit. There should be as many Spheres as there are characters. Spheres should be given names that fit the feel anything with hidden symbolism or possibility of such works – Holy Book, Stars, Alchemy, etc. Spheres are otherwise identical.

One thing to take note of is that Spheres are “public”, not “private” – when you’re knocking off digits from a particular Sphere, you’re doing so for everyone at the table, not just yourself.

Every character also begins play with a single-one shot ability – extensive knowledge of the field in question, an item that helps immensely, those sorts of things – that’s associated with a particular Sphere. The ability allows them to change the number of any of the Sphere values to any other number. This is one of the possible solutions to the (7) problem (the other is summoning up and bindings beasts, demons and angels and having them do your bidding), but may have other tactical uses (you could change a (1)(2) series into (1)(1) – if you roll a single 1, both of those (1)s get knocked off).

Once Spheres and associated abilities are done, it’s time to think up True Names. Whisper a True Name suggestion to whoever is on your right – you’ll be the Namekeeper of that person, bound never to the powers of the name against him. Not that anything stops you from helping *others* use the name against him, mind. A True Name is a combination of two words. Any words will do, as long as they’re thematically appropriate – True Names are keys to the raw essence of the being that carries it, so try and pick something that sounds good (true essences of things want to show off too!). “Feral Mind”, “Mind Eater”, “Rust Rose” are all good names (picked up from a recent playtest-cut-short). A player can “No thank you.” twice, and then pick from the three options. An option only counts as an option if it’s a proper name – if someone suggests you be a “Trouser Snake”, just go “Um, no.” and a raised brow that would properly convey your surprise at his childishness.

Once a True Name has been established, its bearer gives the Namekeeper a list of words he is banned from using, 7 banned words per True Name half, 14 in total. Synonyms of the original True Name are banned by default (i.e., “Wild” and “Thought” for “Feral Mind”) and need not be included.

If a Namekeeper ever uses a True Name or a banned word, the bearer of the True Name should make a note of it, but otherwise keep silent as not to draw attention. If a Namekeeper makes a mistake once, the bearer of the name may take control of him as in rule 4.1 below. If a Namekeeper makes a mistake twice, the bearer of the name may remove him from play as in rule 4.2. This can be done at any time – it needn’t be the bearer’s turn.

And that’s about it for prep.

Your goal during this game is to be the first to remove all of the numbers from a single Sphere – it doesn’t matter which, just as long as it was your roll that removed whatever numbers were there.

A secondary goal is to remove rivals from the game – you do that by guessing the True Names of others and dropping hints about the True Name you are Namekeeper of. Every Namekeeper drops a free hint every time it’s his turn. The hint is two words of a format much like a true name – a hint for “Feral Mind” could be “Untamed Consciousness”. Obviously, previously established limitations must be met. Later on, you may be asked to provide extra hints during another player’s turn. That will work the same as the free hint that you provide.

At the start of your turn, you gain 2d6. You can:

1. Skip your turn and get a +1d6 bonus. There’s a cap at 6d6 on your dice pool. Doing so means you forfeit all other actions (aside from the mandatory hint-drop) and skip your turn immediatelly.

2. Announce which Sphere you’re trying to crack, roll as many dice as you wish. If you roll a number that a Sphere has, cross that number off that Sphere’s list. You can do this for as many Spheres as you like as long as you have dice available. However, you cannot attempt to crack the same Sphere twice on the same turn.

3. Spend dice to Shadow (skullduggery & divination) another character. A single Shadow die costs two regular dice. If a targeted person attempts to research a Sphere, the Shadow dice get rolled and applied to the same Sphere at the end of the targeted person’s turn as if they were regular research dice. Shadow dice last until the targeted person researches a Sphere or does some action to remove them. You can do this to as many persons as you like, as long as you have dice available.

4. Attempt to guess the Name of a rival. If you’re making this attempt, you must perform it at the start of your turn, directly after the mandatory hint-drop. There are two ways to attempt to guess a name:

4.1. Try to bind him to your power – this only needs you to know half his True Name. Point at him, strike a menacing pose and say “By the power of ‘Word’, I bind you to my service!”. If the word you said is either of the two halves of the target’s True Name, he is yours to control. The control goes to you immediately and goes away after you are done with him for the turn. If a controlled character happens to crack a Sphere fully, then whoever controls him wins the game. A character can only be taken control of *once* during an entire game.

If the word you said is neither of the two halves of the target’s True Name, you are hit by a backlash of magical forces, the exact nature of which is to be determined by the player you targeted – all your points are gone immediately, and you skip your next turn. However, all the Shadow points against you disappear as well.

4.2. Try to destroy him – this needs you to know the full True Name. Point at him, strike a menacing pose and say “‘True Name”, I banish you from creation!”. If you guessed the True Name right, the character is immediately removed from play. If not, you are.

5. Pay 1d6 and ask for an extra hint from a Namekeeper of your choice. Roll the die. Once you receive the hint, you can then try to guess the name. Unlike the name-guessing in #4, the inquiry should be directed at the Namekeeper of your intended target, and not the target himself. Furthermore, the action of name-guessing in itself carries different consequences, and none as immediatelly damaging to you if you guess wrong. If you get it at least half right, the Namekeeper will say “Cold, my friend”. If you’re dead wrong, the phrase will be “Your finger’s in the fire, friend.” (think of this as an inverse hot/cold game where the goal is to get as close to the North Star as possible). On the roll you make, only 1s and 6s, and whether you have guessed correctly are relevant. You can do this as many times as you wish for as many targets as you wish, as long as you have enough dice.

5.1. If you guessed wrong and roll a 1, your attempt to contact the Namekeeper and lure more information out of him has backfired, and attracted an unbound demon of the same Name you have said during your guess. If you rolled a six, a demon is summoned, but he is bound to your service. For every unbound demon in play, every player at the table must pay a 1d6 before doing any action that requires dice.

5.2. If you guessed right and rolled a 1, an angel is attracted to the bearer of the name (not the asker nor the Namekeeper). If you guessed right and rolled a 6, nothing is summoned, but you get another hint free and may ask again at no further cost.

6. During your turn, you can invoke the powers of your True Name to summon and take control of various angels and demons. This power can be used as many times as you want throughout the game, but only once during a particular turn.

6.1. Summon an angel to aid your cause. To do this, you must willing make parts of your True Name known – say a phrase of two words. The two words must be associated with both halves of your True Name – they must be either parts of your True Name or part of the banned words you had provided your Namekeeper with. Angels cannot be bound by other characters.

6.2. If there is a demon, bound or unbound, with a part of your name, you can bind by saying “By our common ‘Word’ nature, I bind you, demon!”. If there is more than one demon with the name in question, you bind all of them.

7. If there are any unbound demons in play, you can roll as many d6s as you wish to try to bind some of them. You bind as many demons as you roll 6s – pick them out by their names. However, remember that there is a flat cost of as many d6s as there are unbound demons in play before any dice can be rolled.

If there are 6 unbound demons in play, everyone loses.

8. You can use demons to: Convert them into two Shadow dice; Unlock one of the digits of a Sphere (change any (x) to any (y)); Destroy all the dice another player has. Using a demon consumes him immediately. Do this as many times per turn as you wish, provided you have enough demons.

9. You can use angels to: Destroy all the Shadow dice against you; Close one of the open digits of a Sphere (change any (x) to (x)); Upgrade your maximum dice capacity (the default one is 6d6). Using an angel consumes him immediately. Do this as many times per turn as you wish, provided you have enough angels.

And that’s about it (I think). Not too clear, I know, but it was the best I could manage for now.

Tell me what you think.

I’ve had the chance to quickly play a stripped-down version of the Spheres mechanics today. First thoughts: “Oh god, bookkeeping!” and the second is “It’s very easy to make a misstep.” While both of these are pretty serious issues, we had some fun irregardless.

Here’s how it works (or, uh, tries to work, whichever). There is a set number of Spheres, each representing an area of study the Scholars take interest in. They’re functionally identical, but giving them names works as a pretty good memory tool – for instance we had Holy Book, History, and Human Soul as our Spheres. All Spheres have a specific value at the beggining of the game – a Scholar’s goal is to be the first to master one of them fully, which in game terms means decreasing a Sphere’s value to zero. You do so via the use of points you get every turn (still pondering on whether to use a static refresh rate or a roll of the dice. But whichever I choose, the basic mechanic is still same-ish.)

The trick is, when you spend points on a Sphere, you knock it down a notch for everyone involved. So if, say, you spent 4 points on the Holy Book while it’s at 7,  with your opponent having 3 points left, you hand the victory to your rival. So you can’t play straight. You have to manouver and make it so that another scholar ends up giving you a situation which you could exploit. There are features that allow to make this easier – you can forfeit action for a turn and thus gain extra points, which is pretty straightforward. You can also spend your points indirectly – instead of spending them on a particular Sphere, you spend them to Shadow another player (which, mind, is more expensive than just spending them straight). Skullduggery, divination, that sort of thing. Shadow points get applied on whatever Sphere the target Scholar uses at the end of the target Scholar’s turn.

Say, you were Shadowing Sam with 4 points. Sam has 5 points of her own, and spends them all on Human Soul, which was at 9. Her 5 points knock Human Soul down to 4, but it is your points that get it down to zero, making you the winner! Pretty straightforward and plenty neat, but that’s just my opinion.

Now, I bet you had to re-read at least some of those paragraphs to make sense of them, so you have a sense of the first issue – too damned much bookkeeping – and this is without the True Name mechanic and all the names and guesses that everyone would have to remember. No idea of how to fix that, aside from providing visual tools and crossing my fingers and hoping that the players will stick around long enough to take the mechanics to heart. What can I do here to decrease the bookkeeping or make it managable? Maybe (I wish!) there’s even a way to make it a fun piece of gameplay somehow?

Second… If you’ve grokked the basic mechanic, you’ve understood that the game isn’t about being effective. It’s about manouvering in ways that make other players screw up, and then exploiting those mistakes to your benefit. For this game to be playable, you have to want to win, and other players have to want to win as well. That’s worrying. It’s not bad – that’s an intentional goal of the game I wanted to make from day one. But, I’ve only now understood the full implications of that…

All that bookkeeping means strategic mistakes are easy to make (hell, I made one in the single ‘playtest’ that we did, and I know this baby in and out!). Even if I make the bookkeeping managable, players will still make mistakes. While I want a game that punishes gross errors, I don’t want a game where you have to count every damned point you have or else risk losing everything in a single turn. The game should be robust enough to swallow up the occassional hiccup – it should have a negative effect on the one who screwed up, but not in a way that would end the game immediatelly.

And then there’s other stuff. You know how chess has that thing where you win five turns before making the actual moves? This mechanic does that, too. Is it *fun* when it does that? I can’t really say! It’s kinda intended, but then again, I’d rather if someone was able to throw a curveball in a tough situation and mess it all up, which the mechanic doesn’t quite do, yet. There’s also stuff that I haven’t seen to happen in the game, but I’m afraid is possible – a player who is in no position to win, but is in a position to decide who of the remaining players will win…

And then there’s the stuff I don’t even have any idea about! Who knows how much stuff there is there that I don’t know anything about? I sure don’t!

That somewhat exagerated mockery of my feeling of impotence aside, I do feel like I have some problems. Basically – I’ve a mechanic, but I’ve little idea of what the deep strategic choices one can make within it are. Now, I’ve untapped resources that I can use to fix issues that do crop up (say, curveballin’ up the whole game via integration of the True Name mechanic), but I don’t yet know what the issues are or could be (which is to be expected), or where I should start to look for them to pop up (which is frustrating, and shouldn’t be the case at all).

Help me.

When it rains, my skin gleams.

Jasper's volcanic red light

I am Jasper.   I live on the inside.  It’s what all you humans are searching for – this journey within to the heart of one’s being.  We crystalline entities have always known how to transmit this ability, to shine from the inside out.  Perhaps that is what we are here for: to show you.  It is difficult, I know, to look at me, rock that I am, albeit deep red scorched and gleaming from ancient volcanic fires, and think of me as a being.  But I am, like you, a child of the Earth.  The Earth breathes through me just as she does through you and we are all embedded in her skin – some of us more fixed and immovable than others.  

There was a time when I was envious of the human ability to move about, to walk, to anchor, to touch, to think, to feel, to interact with the Earth’s species.  Even longer ago, I remember a time when I was more fluid (but then I suppose that was when I was a liquid, not a solid, so you probably dismiss my thought as irrelevant).  In those days we were all important in helping create the Earth as you see her now.  Before the dinosaurs, even before plants and bacteria, before oxygen: now you see what I’m getting at.  

It is nice to remember all this because nowadays there aren’t a lot of beings I can share this with.  And humanity!  just so busy and self-consumed and planning the next thing – impossible to catch his eye and say, hey! slow down a minute, I’ve got something I want to tell you.   

So I pretty much sit here, shining in the rain, – a single jasper on a circumference of other very attractive but oh-so-plain stones - perched on the edge of a stone circle overlooking an ancient river basin; a circle created by your ancestors for reasons you and the rest of your kind can no longer remember.  What a calamity that must be: to have all your history spread in the countryside before you but with no inkling of which part fits where.  You know, they left you all the keys, so you could unlock the mysteries.  You’ve just forgotten that you mislaid them.  In your race to compete with each other to be the most intelligent, the most left-brained, the most accoladed, the most applauded of humans, you forgot your connection to the Earth, who gave birth to us all.  It is true: you were created to become the Earth’s antennae, to be her intellect, to use your circuitry to connect her to the spheres, but if you can’t remember that your feet, like mine, are supposed to be earth conductors to make that happen, then I am more likely to be a better conductor than you – to play the music of the spheres with more orchestration and verve than you, in your short-sightedness, will be capable of performing.

Forgive me – just feeling a little blue today, for all my fiery glow.  Give me another aeon; by then I’ll probably be feeling better.  

In the meantime, please try to remember where you misplaced your connection. It’s important for all of us.  We can’t do it without you. Seriously. Check and get back to me.  

We’ll speak again soon.   Love, Jasper.

Jasper guards the entrance to Easter Aquhorthies