Here are a few photos I snapped this morning of my newly finished Monday Knight Productions model roads for miniature wargaming.

Enjoy!

A nice overhead view of the small battle in progress – the Rebel attackers are trying to wrest the farm fields from the Yankee defenders and take the road.

MKP makes a wide variety of useful shapes and pieces that can be used for roads, farm lanes, and “parking lots” for busy farmers.

For part 1 and a step-by-step primer on how to finish these roads, please CLICK HERE!

At Fall-In 2009 I invested about $50 in purchasing a large quantity of flexible 1″ dirt roads from one of the vendors in the dealer hall. The roads were manufactured by Monday Knight Productions of Vancouver, Washington and come in three color selections (mine are the medium brown shade, which I like better for simulating roads of the Civil War era). The roads are made of latex and are durable and very flexible for undulating or hilly terrain layouts. I was never happy with the homemade roads I previously used, and I don’t like the cleanup required with laying down lots of fine grain brown flocking to represent roads, so these were a logical alternative. The Monday Knight products remind me of the old Scenic Effects flexible roads that a few of my gaming buddies use.

Here’s a quick look at these roads, and my efforts to paint them and flock them to match my tabletop terrain.

Here are how the road models come fresh from MKP’s production process (photo from MKP’s website; used under fair usage copyright rules to review their fine product).  For my $51, I ended up with about 18 feet of roadway, more then enough for most regimental-level Civil War miniature wargames.

I diluted Wal-Mart’s Apple Barrel craft paint (black) 10 to 1 with tap water and washcoated the roadbed a few times until I got the look I wanted in terms of shadowing the ruts and depressions molded into the 1″ wide dirt road (MKP also makes 2″ roads for larger scale gaming such as 25/28mm; I use the 1″ for 15mm gaming as most of my Civil War stands for Johnny Reb 3 and Fire & Fury are 3/4″ or 1″ in width). After the paint thoroughly dried, I was ready to add grass to the edges.

I picked up some Woodland Scenics Hob-e-Tac modelling glue yesteday while visiting the Pastimes hobby and wargaming store in Palmyra, Pennsylvania after a nice visit to Hershey’s Chocolate World (yum!). The craft glue is what I have used in the past for my tree kits I assembled several years ago. Today’s Hob-e-Tac is quite different than the older version, which was more like rubber cement and quite tacky right out of the jar.

The newer version is milky white upon application and must be set aside for 15-20 minutes until it becomes clear and tacky. Only then can the flocking material be sprinkled onto the tacky roadside. I put the road sections on wax paper before “painting” the edges with the Hob-e-Tac to facilitate easy removal later.

I liberally poured Woodland Scenics flocking onto the edges of the painted roads. I use a blend of various colors, including medium green (predominant, as I want the final effect to match my old GeoHex base mats I use for my gaming table). Other shades I have blended into my master bucket of flock include various tans and browns, some darker green (not too much), and small pebbles and other goodies. After 10 minutes, I pressed down on the surfaces of the model roads with an old file folder using firm and even hand pressure to better adhere the flocking to the tacky glue. Then, I set aside the model roads overnight to allow the Hob-e-Tac to cure.

After shaking off the excess flocking and returning it to the plastic container, here is the master lot of finished Monday Knight Productions 1″ dirt roads. I am quite pleased with how they turned out and plan to purchase more of these roads at Cold Wars time permitting. I have enough for one 4′x6′ layout, but at times I use both of my GeoHex mats and make a 4′x12′ table for large convention games, so I will need another batch of MKP roads.

Here’s a little closer view of how well the model roads look once painted, washed, and flocked.  Now it’s time to bring on the troops!

More photos of the finished product to come in my next entry here on the Johnny Reb Gaming Society’s official CHARGE! blog. Prices vary by individual piece; see MKP’s website for current rates. I cut some of the 22″ straight pieces into smaller sections for added variety and flexibility of options for my gaming needs.

In India, millions of people are affected by floods every year. I have a program of work,very briefly written below, to make strong embankments using river bed soil in dry season.
Rivers in the Gangetic plain have no borders They carry tons of soil which slowly fills the rivrbed. It is absolutely necessary to dredge the rivers continuously to avoid floods. The excavated sand can be used to make permanent embankments, sufficiently high and at least 50 feet wide at the top, so that these can be well developed as bamboo groves, in addition to accommodating wide roads.
While digging the riverbed, care should be taken to leave a patch of it untouched, which may even be slightly raised so that these may be used as cozways in summer. The cozways, too, must have 50 feet width at the top and sufficient slope and must be strengthened by planting long grass, which grow naturally.
Each lake thus formed must have level bottom so that ,where the terrain permits, we can have long stretches of waterways.
The advantages of the above scheme of river landscaping are:
1.Store water.
2.Recharge ground water.
3.Prevent soil erosion.
4.Prevent rivers changing course.
5.Prevent floods.
6.Use as water transport.
I have read about a system road net work, along the river embankments, well maintained, in Desai district of Assam, which is crisscrossed by rivers and streams. After the coming of British raj, alas, community efforts came to a halt .

I hope my voice will be heard. Floods cause human displacement and consequent misery which can be avoided.

Terrain Navigator Pro Virgina Review

Check Price Now!

Terrain Navigator Pro Virgina Feature

• Includes up to 4000 high-quality USGS topographic maps of Virginia with all the great features of Maptech’s Terrain Navigator
• Download, annotate, and print high-resolution aerial photos of nearly the entire continental U. S.
• Create 3-D fly-around video clips to email or include in presentations
• Mouse-over maps to instantly determine addresses, coordinates, elevations and more
• Use the maps and photos in ArcGIS, AutoCAD, ERDAS, Photoshop and many other applications

Terrain Navigator Pro Virgina Overview

Maptech Terrain Navigator Pro takes Terrain Navigator software to a whole new level with expanded features designed for professionals such as project managers, architects, land-use officials, as well as expert hikers and expedition leaders. Navigator Pro not only offers the full array of features that Terrain Navigator has come to be known for, but it also allows users to download and use high-quality aerial photos, share 3-D fly-around video clip recordings of the terrain, export maps to graphics program, and much, much more.

Just like Maptech’s Terrain Navigator, Terrain Navigator Pro includes between 300 and 4000 topographic maps of Virginia. And as with Terrain Navigator, if you are planning a hike, you can plot out all your trips out on your PC, then download your routes and notes onto your Pocket PC device. When you return from your trip, all the notes you’ve taken, along with the routes of your spontaneous day trips, can be uploaded back into your PC, and voila, you’ve created a detailed log of your trip directly onto the map. Your maps can be printed on any standard desktop printer with or without the USGS borders and legend, latitude/longtitude grids, UTM grids, or compass alignment guides. And with Pocket Navigator software (sold separately), Terrain Navigator Pro can be integrated with mapping and GPS technology on a Pocket PC.

Terrain Navigator Pro is truly designed for the professional in mind. In addition to several enhancements on the standard Terrain Navigator features, Terrain Navigator Pro offers several advanced features, including:

• Aerial Photos: Access and download 1-meter resolution Digital Orthophoto Quads via the Internet for a full year and use them the same way you use topo maps. The photos can be printed out on any standard desktop printer, and you can add notes, project them in 3-D, and view them alongside your topo maps. Photos are available for most areas of the continental U.S., and once you’ve downloaded them, they’re yours to keep.
• GeoTips and Dynamic Street Addresses: Mouse-over maps or photos to determine addresses, coordinates, elevation, grade, and more. With the software’s powerful “auto text” feature, you can instantly annotate a map or photo with that information. You can also search for maps and locations by typing in a street address.
• 3-D Fly-around Video Clip Recordings: Perhaps the coolest new feature of all! Terrain Navigator Pro allows you to display a map or aerial photo in 3-D, then record it as a short video clip. With this feature, you can email the video clip to a client or colleague, or even paste it into a PowerPoint presentation.
• Advanced Graphics and CAD/GIS Features: To assist with your presentations, you can export maps, photos and charts to Photoshop and other graphics programs. You can also use the topo maps and aerial photos on ArcView, ArcGIS, Intergraph, AutoCAD, MapInfo, MicroStation, ERDAS, and other CAD/GIS applications.

Coverage
Virginia

What’s in the Box
Set of CD-ROMs with a total of 300 to 4,000 topographical maps covering the entire state. (Orthophoto Quads are accessible via Internet download.)

Terrain Navigator Pro Virgina Specifications

Additional features available for Terrain Navigator Pro (TNP) (9.00 per state): Seamless, 1-meter resolution aerial photos: Use aerial photos the same way you use maps, including printing and adding annotations and downloading for use offline. 1 foot and 2 foot resolution for many urban areas. Street Addresses: Quickly find and display street addresses on maps and aerial photos. Geo-Pins: Organize documents (digital photos, spreadsheets, even web pages) by accurately placing dynamic shortcuts right on the map. Geo-Tips: Automatically label maps and aerial photos with street addresses, coordinates, elevations, grades and areas. GIS and CAD Export: Export Maps, aerial photos, elevation models and shapefiles to GIS and CAD programs including ArcGIS, AutoCAD, Microstation, MapInfo and Intergraph. Print on large format printers. NGS Benchmarks and up-to-date Recovery Sheets. State Plane coordinates. Advanced Tools including range rings by time and distance, area fills and line-of-sight height offsets. Google Earth Interface: Add layers to maps and photos and view them in Google Earth. Public Land Survey System overlay for western states. Township and Range Search/Overlay

*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Nov 28, 2009 01:10:04

A few weeks back I showed some previews of Dave’s work in progress scifi bunker. We’ll it’s Thanksgiving Day here states side and Dave has provided us with something cool to build over the weekend.

30mm Bunker Deluxe Kit
Price: $6.95

The Bunker Deluxe Kit is a downloadable PDF papercraft model perfectly suited for 28mm-30mm science fiction wargames, roleplaying games, dioramas, class projects or just for fun. Construction is easy, combining simple forms that require no special skill or papercrafting experience.

MULTI-LAYERED AND SINGLE-LAYERED FILES: This kit includes a full set of multi-layered files, offering 3 color schemes (gray metal, desert brown, jungle green) for each of its components. Each part can be customized by adjusting the layers, so that you can hide or reveal battle damage, weathering, external equipment or other items. Also included is a set of single-layered files for your convenience, with a limited selection of components and color options. Whether you choose multi-layered or single-layered files to print from, you’ll be able to design a variety of bunkers, each with a unique appearance.

DIMENSIONS: The bunker has a footprint of 7″ x 9″, and stands approximately 4.2″ tall at the highest point.

CONTENTS: A ground tile, large support pillars, triangular support columns, long and short walls for the ground level, a staircase, a variety of crates and chests, upper level pieces that can be lifted off to access your soldiers within, long and short walls for the upper level, doors and window shutters that can open and close, and more. Full instructions are provided, as well as a sample layout plan for creating a larger bunker complex.

REQUIRED MATERIALS: To build one bunker, you’ll need 13 pages of cardstock to print on, a sharp hobby knife, paper glue and a cutting mat. It’s recommended that you also use scissors, a cork-backed aluminum ruler and fine-line ink markers to fill in the paper edges. To make full use of this model, you’ll need Adobe Acrobat Reader 7.0 or a later version.

 

Ever opened the liftgate on your SUV or wagon, only to hear the crunch when it hits your garage door or ceiling?  GM heard that noise too, and in an announcement today, has seemingly solved the problem.  Their solution is to use a knob in the overhead console to control the height.  Once you have the height to your liking, there is a button built into the liftgate which sets the height.

According to GM, the programmable liftgate is not available on the Equinox’s main competitors, the Ford Escape, Hyundai Santa Fe and the Toyota Rav4.  The pictured vehicle is the 2010 Chevrolet Equinox, but the feature is available on some of GM’s other vehicles, namely the 2010 GMC Terrain and 2010 Cadillac SRX.  GM also says it is standard on the 2010 Cadillac CTS Wagon.

It’s definitely good to see features like this showing up, but why has it taken so long?  Parents with kids and groceries in their vehicle should definitely be opting for the programmable liftgate, not to mention anyone who does outside sales and has to get samples from their crossover or SUV while parked in a garage, many of which have low ceilings.

by John Suit

Source: GM

I had the privilege of attending the recent games day at the Dragon’s Refuge in Peotone, IL. This hobby shop sponsors a day long event every other month that includes miniatures, card games, a silent auction and a raffle. My friend Rich ran a Sword and the Flame variant set in the Belgian Congo involving a rescue column trying to link up with Belgian Askari at a native fort, then push on to rescue an archaeological team that had run afoul of the natives.

My column, replete with ammunition bearers, is ambushed by the natives.

The game was fun, although the Belgians did not fare well against the pesky native ambushes. The terrain was quite impressive, including a scratch-built earth/log jungle fort.

The Askari sally forth from the fort, only to find death in the jungle.

All-in-all, everyone had a good time.

So I got me a new Canon 7D just 10 days ago.. I couldnt test it or try it out immediatley cuz I had some major school work to do and needed to prepare for my A.C.E exam.. BUT today some friends of mine had a music video to shoot for a class project and I was appointed job cameraman #3 with my 7D.. and it was beeeeaauuutttiiiful! Here are some images.. downsized a little for web.. the video footage will be uploaded soon when their project is finished in less than 2 weeks.

There is a distinct lack of simple instructions on just how to get the raw terrain map file and actually open it in PhotoShop CS3. Here’s what finally worked for me.

WARNING: I learned the very hard way that after using the terrain editing tools and ‘baking’ the terrain that reverting must incorporate a lot of lossiness because my smooth wonderful beach and slopes were then irretrievably terraced. Ugh. Lesson learned. Only using terrain files from now on.

Here is how you download the raw terrain file. It’s the top of the three buttons (click on image to get higher rez if you need).

Ok, you get a terrain.raw file that you can open in Photoshop, if you have the right settings. Here is what finally worked for me after a lot of ‘file is too small’ and ‘file is too large’ errors and ugly formats:

The thing I missed was ‘Interleaved.’ That made all the difference. Hope this helps someone else. More as I figure it out.

It's quiet -- too quiet -- as the stage coach heads into town.

This picture shows what can be done to make very serviceable terrain, very cheaply.

Franaine set up this table for a “Legends of the Old West” game. The buildings are just corrugated cardboard boxes, painted with some doors and windows cut into them. The box flaps fold to make a roof and you can open them easily to put figs inside.

Leave one flap standing up on the front for the facade that so many frontier buildings had.

There is energy in the air in Ski Town, U.S.A. Steamboat Springs, Colorado is getting rowdy. Driving down main street, the you can feel and see the difference. Gear swaps, classes at the rec center dedicated exclusively to getting your legs ready for skiing, and enthusiasts roller-skiing up and down the cement slopes in preparation. There is no denying that this is a ski town. However, there is another snow sport gaining more and more popularity every year. It may not be as readily noticed as you pass through, but in garages in all over town, snowmobiles are being tuned-up and prepped for the season. Snowmobiling is close second to skiing in the category of winter activities. And “Slednecks” are enthusiastic about the potential for another epic season here in northwest Colorado. Both Snowmobilers and skiers anxiously await the snow.

A central reason for the prevelance of snowmobiling in this area is Rabbit Ears Pass, in the Routt National Forest. The Pass is the snowmobile Mecca of Colorado. X-games competitors frequent the area and the longest snowmobile jump in history was recorded there. If you sat on the summit and scanned the area with your binoculars you would spot more than a few snowmobilers. On the highway’s edge there are trailers of all sizes and shapes. In the distance are guided tours that resemble ants on a march as they zoom up and down the hills. And if you know where the pros hang out, you may catch some wild cliff dropping and huge jumps. Rabbit Ears Pass is truly an outstanding place to ride. If offers a sublime combination of accessabily, diverse terrain and an abundance of snow.

Accessibility is foremost. Without access, the best terrain in the world becomes irrelevant. This is why a crowded and expensive ski resort is more popular than the thousands of miles of wide-open backcountry. For most of us, our playtime is limited and we would rather not spend it en route. From Steamboat, the Pass and endless snowmobiling is a mere twelve miles east. Just park in one of the lots that line the highway, unload your sled and your off. For those with a large budget to spend on their appetite for snow sports, an airport lies just a half-an-hour west and Steamboat has endless lodging options.

The diversity of the terrain is tremendous. Beginners have groomed trails. Intermediate riders have single track and hills with varying degrees of steepness. And the really crazy folks out there- they have plenty of cliffs. And all riders can play in the many alpine meadows on powder days. This variety draws a wide array of experience levels to the Pass. It’s also a wonderful fit for commercial tours. Guided trips are a fusion of excitment and safety. By introducing people to snowmobiling, tours also assure the growth of the sport. Some of these newcomers will become addicts and, like the rest of us, spend lots of money supporting their habit and the industry.

Finally, the white fluffy icing on the proverbial cake. The delectable snow. Aptly icknamed “champagne powder”, the snow that falls on the Yampa Valley is renowned for being lighter than that of other regions in Colorado. Lighter snow heightens that supreme floating sensation that we all strive for. Speed is alluring, and leaning hard into a perfect turn feel like cheating gravity, but to float is divine.

Next time you and your family pack your sweaters and mittens and head for the mountains, consider Steamboat Springs as a destination. The exceptional ski resort draws a crowd all on its own, but the availability of many other snow sports makes this town unique. Wander off the beaten path, over miles of wild terrain on a powerful snowmobile and you shall certainly return hom with tales to tell.

Lizardmen find a deserted campsite in the old ruins.

Todays Planet Heck contribution consists of three more or less identical tents and some ruins. 

The ruins came from the 40k 3rd edition box set and from some of the GW Lord of the Rings bits that PB gave me.  I painted a few more than those shown.  The ruins were very quick to prepare and paint and although many tournament players will have seen them in various states regularly enough to be sick of the sight of them, I still like them. They are generic enough to be suitable for use in a variety of gaming settings, if you can ignore the bulletholes on the 40k ones (I can).

The tents are part of the current Warhammer starter box set Battle for Skull Pass.  I didnt really ever buy much Warhammer Fantasy stuff, although I have a few bits and pieces.  I picked up the three tents on Ebay for very little cash.  They also came with a few other fun bits and pieces like tied up dwarfs, cute little wound/encounter markers and the like.

Although the tents are quite heavily themed to look like GW Night Goblin items, the muted colour scheme makes them more than suitable to represent a Mad Max style post-apocalyptic campsite as well as something more traditionally fantasy.

The tent with the large moon on the top was assembled in the standard fashion.  I didnt want to have three of those silly looking moons dominating the look of the encampment (even one moon is more than I wanted) however.  With that in mind I dug through some bits and pieces that I had lying around and stuck some banner parts on one tent.  I topped the other tent with funny looking little piece of plastic that I have had since Xmas nineteen-eighty-something.  The part comes from a Return of the Jedi: Jabbas the Hutt Throne Room kit.  I always thought that it was the part of Max Rebos musical instrment that emits the sound, but the picture below reveals it to be a brazier or something (the items with the red circles drawn around them, obviously).  Who knew?

Image courtesy of www.starwarsmodels.com

En este oportunidad les presento mi primer terrain desarrollado en Unity 3d. Este software gratuito liberado a inicios de este año para windows (sistema operativo que uso)  tiene la gran ventaja de desenvolverse en casi todos los areas de desarrollo en 3D ( Mundos, modelado, juegos, etc)

Unity3d simplifica la labor de los desarrolladores  y motiva a que otras personas interesadas aprendan el apasionante desarrollo de graficos en 3d.

Si más preambulos les presento mi mundo llamado “ONE”

Se podría decir que mi terrain está en fase alpha. Es cierto, sólo me ha tomado 3 horas comprender la interfaz y desarrollar mi mundo y si se dan cuenta aún no manejo la propiedad del agua, pero sí logre conseguir un sol medio galáctico en el cielo oscuro.

No he podido subir el ejemplo porque mi hosting free me lo impide peroveré que puedo hacer.
La canción que acompaña es de  explosions in the sky.

Descargen mi mundo aquí.

i move as any crustacean crawler:

one claw at window & one at bay

one that dont, one what may

one for night & one for day.

this sickness aint one of shoot or pace—

isnt pinch or ounce of me!

i merely saw his lover drown

while mermaid’s voice was peeling down.

          Night is a purple mass

          bruise w/ streetlight for green & brown

          the patient, not quite living, yet risen

          Lazarus not needed—

          the bridge keeps its girders

          while its architect takes tea.

used to start at static’s visage, waving the lilac branch:

    the dirty dishes, the sugar cube

resting in garden soil,       the dust

that settles from foot-to-foot

traffic & my decaying brain

nowhere to be seen!

…

“if i considered my reply meant for one who might oneday return to the world,

most certainly this flame would

cease to flicker; and yet

since none — if what i hear is true — ever

returned alive

from this abyss, then

w/o fear of facing infamy, i answer you.”*

                and the answer is a question

                no longer that shapeless one

                kept for dark rooms, bleak streets

                   and far flung from        the face that wears

                  round glasses,   a handkerchief used chiefly to augment the pocket

                & no longer Do I dare Disturb the universe?* but

                Do I dare not?

you say there will be

and i say there IS

time

to put clean sheets on the bed

before dirtying them again

time to saturate then remove

to rip to tearing

then recalibrate what’s riven

time for a you to be a you

& a me to be a me, no longer

               married to the sea.

but perhaps what you feared most

was a stab of the pin

spearing guts to wall

immobile in the display

of a coffee spoon life’s demise

     for always it is best

         to appear unsuspicious

       best to continue the erudite chats

           & upper-air friendships

           that an admission would overturn.

You were happy to be of service

but walking on the beach

admiring the obscurity of an ocean’s depths,

the callow of a crab,

one would wonder that maybe

the artist’s mask may have revealed

the reverie he’d intended conceal!

Procivis MP et le 1% logement vous proposent une formule originale : le Pass Foncier à Toulouse et dans tout le département.

Cette solution vous permet de payer en deux temps : d’abord la construction de votre maison T3 à Toulouse, par exemple, et ensuite le terrain à Toulouse, quand le prêt principal souscrit pour la construction est remboursé.

Le Pass-Foncier est simple à mettre en place. En effet, après une analyse de votre projet, le CIL met en place le Pass Foncier et assure le suivi de votre dossier. De plus, vous bénéficiez d’une souplesse très appréciable puisque cette formule vous permet, si vous en exprimez la volonté, d’acheter le terrain à tout moment.

Grâce au Pass Foncier en Haute-Garonne, vous avez enfin la garantie d’une réalisation à la mesure de votre projet d’achat de maison à Toulouse.

A propos de Procivis-MP :

Procivis MP constitue la branche immobilière du Crédit Immobilier de France sur Midi-Pyrénées. Composé d’une cinquantaine de personnes, le groupe intervient dans tous les secteurs de l’habitat et vous aide à acheter dans l’immobilier à Toulouse.

www.procivis-mp.com

If looking at the new GMC Terrain has you staring in disbelief, you aren’t the only one. After spending millions in the design and development of this new product, how can GM allow this to happen? Not only that, but our tax dollars are supporting this company and this brand. If the government is going to spend our tax payer dollars, at least give us good design! The blocky, primitive forms and graphics, the overly simplistic wheel openings that pinch the tires, the lack of a dynamic stance, the absence of a strong side view graphic, the curb rubbing front air dam on an SUV? It’s no wonder that GM is suffering the way it is. I sure hope this second chance we’ve given them results in better designs.

À l’intérieur des deux semaines de stage, j’ai fait beaucoup plus d’apprentissages que dans mes trois ans d’études universitaires. J’ai maintenant une plus grande expérience qui m’aide à comprendre plusieurs aspects de la profession qui m’échappaient auparavant.

gearheart.

the phone is a gunning coma!  cannot win for waiting, am dining epileptic burst! a shiver for my mother! a shiver for the town! a shiver for the acid rain that wears this building down!
use d to                   speak of turmoil, there was more than parsley in my teeth – & i begged / for more than / to differ; that is how we me t.

jagged and size-mored, saw the last turkey on drive-home, baked & yawning.  you remember the tidal pull that led yr valley to mine, the inverse a mountain?
is how i once scaled that purple hyacinth.

– Lenny Scrawgins (the ultimate death) in person.

Ps. remember that?

So, the past few nights I have been catching up on some reading across my neighborhood of the blogosphere. I was catching up on one of my favorite blogs when I come across a post by a woman asking people to visit her blog. While I at first shirked a little at what I took to be some unabashed self-promotion, I checked her blog and saw that this was really not the case.  This woman was reaching out to her community and, in many ways, asking for help.

After briefly looking at the fiasco that had ensued on her discussion boards, reacting with something that nears rage, and then responding to what I took largely as ignorance and disrespect, I began to think about some of the broader implications and questions that this case raises.

This blog gives us a fascinating look at how communities can come together and engage in conflict ridden dialogue in what we glibly refer to as a blogosphere. Here I ponder …  just what is this sphere? What are the topographies that have arisen and what topographies are we beginning to define here in this ‘sphere?’

I mean, the reason for these virulent anti-feminists to visit this woman’s blog that is titled “FemisitX” are, to me, certainly obscure. What’s even more unfortunate is that this badgering is clearly getting under her skin and angering her. While this in itself can be productive. On this occasion this getting under her skin seems to be inhibiting her ability to dialogue with these naysayers. Although, she does say, “If you like what I have to say, tell me. If you vehemently disagree, tell me that too.”

However, I would like to take a moment to put this into the context of some of the other blogs I read that engage similar polarizing topics. Most of these authors address the line between disagreement and harassment and then clearly state that they will remove comments of the latter.

From where I am sitting it seems that the attempt at dialogue that we see on FeministX is quickly deteriorating into irate exchanges that are increasingly missing the topic all together.

What catches my attention most, however, is that in the most recent thread the loudest voice of dissention is an upper middle-aged male of the baby-boomer generation. This self-identified Libertarian does not even dialogue with this blogger. Instead, by my standards, he attacks what she has written and “talks” at her. However, this “her” that he seems to construct in his responses is something along the lines of ‘all feminists’ or his generalization of a ‘woman.’

Here, I am suggesting that Keoni Galt has gone beyond what I would call a “response” that would be appropriate as a comment and is harassing this fiery blogger. (Please note, feministx may feel completely different.)

Although what you see here is the most recent exchange between these two, the original post is actually the beginnings of a thoughtful interrogation of feminism. While I find the nature of the ensuing comments somewhat amusing – and wonder if Keoni Galt shouldn’t just “get a life,” so to speak. This also raises questions about the nature of blogging communities and the relations that come out of them. For example, we have all been in circumstances where there are radical bystanders shrieking some political or social message. Response to these types of expression are generally agreed to, if anything, be counter-productive. Ex: fundamentalists at Pride, anti-abortion activists at Lilith Fair, etc. While these examples are clearly siding with my ideologies, “we” are guilty of the same. And, this is not to say that there is not a time and place that is appropriate for type of vocalization.

However, when we look at a presence such as that of Keoni Galt what are we to make of it? While I wouldn’t categorize this type of participation as that of a troll, neither would I categorize this is as participatory dialogue.

Is it counter to the notions of blogging to filter out these voices? I mean, Keoni Galt is clearly not engaging in the discussion that this blog has been designed (in my opinion) to facilitate. In fact, he is in many ways silencing the potential of this debate – adding static to the airwaves.

In other politicized forums we do not see the presence of these voices of descention. Glenn Beck would certainly not let me on his show. And even when the president an founder of PETA was on his show they didn’t discuss the issue that PETA represents – that conflict was silenced. Should this conflict be silence here? Or, is this not even the question to ask. Is there no silencing, but rather only displacement? Does it change “the rules of the road” when there is in many ways an infinite amount of space to spout off on your own terms?

And, is there not another level of dialogue that opperates on the amount of attention that our respective spoutings attract? The more these naysayers visit FeministX, the more clicks she gets, and the more visible she becomes. Does this increase in visibility equate with an increase in volume?

Ash makes a last ditch attempt to stop Skeletor from sacrificing Trixie to his evil Lord.

 Todays contribution to the Planet Heck project is the altar above.

The plinth that the altar sits on is the piece that gives context to the whole thing I think: it makes the other components look significantly better together. 

The plinth is made from five rectangular bases hot glued to each other and a cork base.  The bases came with some Gamera vinyl figures for display.  Like the figures that they were supplied with the bases are prepainted, plus they also have a texture on them that looks like smashed up concrete or stone.  As Gamera and co were not intended for display but to game for a living the bases were kept until a suitable use was found for them, which I eventually did, right here.

The statues and columns are GW Lord of the Rings bits and pieces that were given to me by PB, a gaming buddy for nearly eighteen years.  PB didnt reckon that he was likely to get around to painting up those scenic bits and pieces, but he thought that I might, so he gave them to me.  They were quick to paint up and they look quite nice I think. 

Heroquest Scenery

The altar itself is one of the pieces of plastic furniture from the classic Heroquest boardgame.  I have had my copy of Heroquest since the early ’90s but I never got around to painting anything from it until the other day.  Seeing as I managed to get my hands on a second set of Heroquest from a non-gamer friend recently I painted up that altar too, along with a pair of tombs. 

For fun I vaguely themed each altar as being either “good” or “evil” but it was a bit of a half-assed effort.  Evil got black candles and pentagrams painted in the book.  The good altar got yellowish brown candles and a silly line illustration of a guy with a halo kneeling and watching another guy with a halo getting skewered by something.  In a nutshell that more or less sums up religion as far as I am concerned.

The two tombs got pretty straightforward paint jobs.  The first one (not pictured) got painted to look like a stone lid to a sarcophagus while the second one got a quick scheme to look like a sleeping knight.  Hopefully some time I will get an opportunity to play a game where some ritual is going on that will awaken some hero/villain that I can use the two tombs for, swapping them around as the ritual progresses.  This should represent the bad double exposure type effect common in (pre CG) special effects movies for that sort of thing quite entertainingly.