Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Interview with Chris Avellone



This is an excellent interview with Chris Avellone, wherein he discusses how Fallout: New Vegas and its DLCs were created - the steps designers go through, etc., things he's learned in the industry - such as not to foreshadow future games as they did in Knights of the Old Republic 2 since 3 was never made, and how to break into the industry - example: being a modder with an extremely popular download rank is a plus.

You also learn some cool trivia, like Chris A. wrote Lanius and Rose of Sharon Cassidy, and he attended William & Mary and Virginia Tech.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Instantaneous Chocolate

I love old advertisements. It's inevitable that when I'm researching one thing, I go off on tangents because I've discovered something else. This time it's: INSTANTANEOUS CHOCOLATE - THE GREATEST INVENTION OF THE AGE.

Yes, I'd support instant cocoa as one of the wonders of the modern age, especially the "add water" kind. Warming up milk can be annoyingly difficult compared to putting the kettle on for hot water.

Sliced bread is pretty nifty, too. You know the expression "greatest thing since sliced bread"? Before you had to slice your own loaf, which can be problematic if you can't cut in a straight line both across and down.

What are some other food inventions you'd like to nominate?

Monday, December 12, 2011

Roman Intaglios


Aren't these gorgeous? They are ancient Roman intaglios -- tiny gemstones for rings or other jewelry. A person hand carved these figures into the stone. No laser. No sophisticated magnifying device.


See how tiny?
I love these. The craftsmanship amazes me.
You can see many of these intaglios at the Roman Legion Museum in Caerleon, Wales.


Photo Credits:  The top image is from @RomanCaerleon and the bottom image is from http://www.antique-rings.co.uk/roman.htm

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Roman Dice Tower


"You can just see the dice tower on the table, it has a little set of stairs for the dice to roll down." - @RomanCaerleon, http://twitpic.com/7rxa04

This device prevented cheating by providing a uniform way by which the dice were thrown.