Child Abuse in the name of Child Protection
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
Friday, April 18, 2008
ZZW: The Hag's Tower
We had our second adventure in the world of Faery's Tale last Saturday night after a nice dinner at Bombay House. I report:
The story
As Zot, Zephyr, and Wizzbang were returning from Princess Isabelle's castle, they first stopped at the home of the Finegans were Zot lives in a mouse nook. As the approached the house, there was a dark and sad ambiance. Looking into the window, they saw the parents distressed and no sign of Sara, their baby girl. Zephyr used a Seer enchantment and saw what had happened: three goblins, including Gob and Rob, and come and kidnapped the baby!
Zot used her house magic to steal the blanket from the baby's crib and gave it to Wizzbang, who turned into a dog and sniffed it to get the scent of the baby. Zot and Zephyr jumped on Wizzbang's back as he mindlessly followed the scent through the woods. As they walked, the floor caved beneath them and they fell into a centi-pit. Rather than confront them, the group ran from the three centipedes.
The path gradually led to dark cave. By using their magic, they were able to seen a greenish-grey pukish-looking child-sized troll guarding the entrance. The cave was a hallway with a hook at the end and a cupboard on the left. Zot turned invisible and walked in to see what was beyond the hook.
Wizzbang and Zephyr approached the troll and tried to reason/sneak by it. It resisted their Bluff that they were the replacement guards and they were fumbled by its riddle and then Wizzbang lost control of himself when he smelled the food (his Passion) emanating from the cupboard---that Zot had happened to look inside. This greatly upset the troll, but they subdued him with a sleep spell.
The group looked around the corner together and saw a cauldron, a table, a tree root with a water spout, and an open door across the room. When Zot had looked earlier, she saw the three goblins casting a spell on the door. They were gone!
They first inspected the root and saw that the tree's water was being stolen. Zephyr could not stand for that (her Passion is Nature) and they had to stop experimenting.
They couldn't see through the door---instead there was a glowing whiteness just on the interior. Zot walked through invisible and felt a stomach turning before seeing the base of a stone tower with a wet submerged section. She returned and brought the others with her safely.
The party navigated past the water and up a ladder to the next floor where there was a sand pit full of scorpions. A bit of cleverness got them past these trap as well and up another floor. Here there was a pair of beds and a sleeping troll. The woke up the troll and had to fight it as they tried to escape up another floor. There they met the three goblins--without Sara! They must have been returning from the top of the tower!
The group fought the trolls and eventually sent them teleporting through space onto the edge of the centipit. Next, the group reached a moldy, book ridden study with a rope ladder hanging from above next to the window. They climbed up the ladder to find...
A grotesque Hag chanting a ritual over the baby Sara lying on an altar!
A fight ensued and eventually they subdued the Hag and forced her to grant them all a Boon and let them take Sara back. As they returned Sara to her home, her parents were overjoyed and the Faerie Queen Leanan came to congratulate the group.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Tuesday, April 15th, 2008
Except Prohibition was good for Bootleggers (See here)
Emma Smith: I thought it was awesome.
Ash: Countries are fake.
Expect an Extermination Order soon
Jewish in Modernity (Surprising)
Richard's Story, Monica's Story, and Shannon's Story -- More
Monday, April 14, 2008
God's Chosen People of America, by Zula C. Brinkerhoff
God's Chosen People of America, by Zula C. Brinkerhoff
This book talks about the myths and history of the Hopi people. Zula is a Mormon woman who spent a lot of time with the Hopis and was adopted by them and given permission to present their case to the world. The book is very interesting: the parallels between LDS theology and Hopi myth are striking, but break down in quite a few cases. There's a bit to tie the Hopi to the Book of Mormon, but it is rather tenuous. Another unfortunate factor is that an oral history can be influenced by the greater culture, and who knows if the Hopis have retroactively Christianized their account. I'd like to talk to someone in person and I can't wait until all things related to this are revealed in the hereafter.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
The Book and The Map, by Venice Priddis
The Book and The Map, by Venice Priddis.
This book proposes a theory of Book of Mormon geography. Roughly, it takes seriously Joseph Smith's comment that the Nephites landed at 30 degrees latitude south (in Chile) and places the narrow neck of land on the western coast above that. She proposes that the Amazon basin was once an inland sea, which supports the neck's narrowness and that the Nephites lived on an "isle of the sea." (From 2 Nephi 10:20.) Overall, it is a very interesting book. Still, I'd say that the jumps she must make to name particular locations as Book of Mormon cities is unsafe, but no more so than the standard Central American leaps.
Comparison between Nephi and Manco Capac---an Incan myth, who had a golden staff that guided him various places and that he came with three brothers and the wife-sisters (i.e., wives who were sisters, like the daughters of Ishmael.) [p. 65]
Saturday, April 12, 2008
ZZW: The Frog Prince
Libby, John (her brother), Audra (his wife), and I decided to play Faery's Tale (from Firefly Games) together. John and I have played various other RPGs before---DnD, Vampire, Shadowrun, etc; while Libby and Audra never had. I thought the game was really fun and worked well. You can read reviews of the system on RPGnet.
For our first adventure, I was the Narrator; Libby played Zephyr, a pixie; John was Wizzbang, a pooka; and Audra was Zot, a brownie. I adapted the adventure from one in the source book, which is based on the fairy tale "The Frog Prince."
The story
As the group was on their way to their favourite swimming pond, they heard the frenzied cries of a frog being berated by the taunts of two gross goblins: Gob and Rob. Zephyr flew above the bushes and saw the two beasts pelting the frog from the shore with little pebbles... she also noticed a nasty looking pike swimming in the pond.
Zot's animal companion---a spider named Lefty---prepared some webbing for Zot to use to tie up the goblins. She tried to sneak up behind them with her Invisibility gift, but Rob noticed a noise and went to investigate away from the shore. In response, Wizzbang---who is Musical---played a distracting song on his harp. Since Zot successfully snuck up on Gob, she tried to tie him up with the webbing and was successful!
Wizzbang turned into a monkey---with his Animal Form gift---and tossed the tied up goblin into the pond. Zephyr shot her bow at Rob, but horribly missed and he was able to redirect the arrow back at her! He used Black Magic to summon three centipedes from the ground!
Zot was attacked by two of the centipedes and successfully avoid one, but the other grappled with her. She was able to shake it off and turn Invisible after a bit. In the interim, Wizzbang the Monkey turned into a chicken---intent on eating the centipedes---while Zephyr spoke to the frog, who said his name was Tobias and that he was a cursed Prince.
Soon after, Gob swam back to the shore and enchanted one of the centipedes to double in size! Wizzbang gobbled up one of the centipedes and Zephyr was quick to turn the other two into centiseeds--magical seeds that contain centipede essence---with her Pixie Dust.
After meleeing with the goblins for a bit, Wizzbang the Chicken turned into a cat and scared them off. The group let there hearts stop racing and Wizzbang the Cat pulled the pike out of the pond and Zephyr turned it into a minnow until the next sunrise with her Pixie Dust.
Prince Tobias explained that he needed a Princess to invite him to dinner and let him sleep on her pillow. If this happened, he would be released from his curse and he could go back to his castle, where an evil double Prince Tobias had been planted by an evil hag. The Princess Isabelle was scheduled to come by playing with her golden ball any moment. Zephyr, Zot, and Wizzbang resolved to manage to get Prince Tobias to retrieve the ball, after they engineered its disappearance into the pond.
When Isabelle arrived, she was attracted to Wizzbang the Cat and dropped her ball. Zot (while Invisible) pushed the ball into the water, except Isabelle didn't notice. Wizzbang jumped off and ran away. Isabelle finally noticed and Tobias offered to get it after the promise was made. Unfortunately, Isabelle broke her promise and went home.
The group decided to convince the Princess to honor her promise and instructed Tobias to be at the house for dinner. They snuck into the castle and wrote a mysterious note in her journal about keeping promises. That didn't affect the Princess and she sat down to brush her hair. While looking in the mirror, she saw the earlier scene at the pond---through Zephyr's Pixie magic---and then the mirror broke. She realized the significance of the message, but wasn't moved to repent. Finally, Wizzbang---now a Bluebird---flew into the room and spoke to her---and she was convinced!
As Isabelle ran outside to find Tobias, he was standing at the door! And they lived happily ever after... until the next adventure!
Friday, April 11, 2008
Friday, April 11th, 2008
Thursday, April 10, 2008
The Book of Three, by Lloyd Alexander
The Book of Three, by Lloyd Alexander
This is long cliche combined with blatant mimicking of Lord of the Rings. It might be true that both copy Welsh mythology, but still... lame.
Monday, April 7, 2008
The Birth Partner, by Penny Simkin
The Birth Partner, by Penny Simkin
This is "a Complete Guide to Childbirth for Dads, Doulas, and All Other Labor Companions." I've read it in preparation for guiding Libby through her first childbirth. Very exciting!
Unlike What to Expect..., this is not scary at all. Instead, it walks through the labor process in a very scientific way, so you'll be able to be prepared. I feel very confident and knowledgeable about it now.
Notes: p17, p47, p72, p85, p94, p97-4, p101 (1e), p107, p128, p130, p133, p202, p222, p278, p293, p294, p306-2m, p332, and p339-2.
Some random reminders/questions for a doctor:
- We prefer not to have the mother's legs in rests on the side of the bed, this is restrictive and uncomfortable. (p. 97)
- We prefer to bear down spontaneously, rather than using forced pushing.
- We prefer not to use procedures or interventions that speed labour, unless there is a strong medical problem; we are willing to wait as long as it takes.
- We prefer to leave the cord attached and un-clamped until it no longer pulsates or until the placenta is delivered. In the interim, we'd like the baby to stay close to the mother. (p. 333)
- Following birth, we'd like the baby to have skin-to-skin contact with the mother under warm blankets.
- We do not want our baby given a bottle or pacifier without our explicit permission on the occasion.
- What is your individual cesarean rate? Your offices? How do you justify this?
- We'd like a doctor and nurses supportive of a natural birth.
- Will you postpone discussion of inducing labour until 42 weeks.
- We'd like the mother to be able to walk around and eat light snacks.
- We will not be having an episiotomy, unless we explicitly authorize it after discussion.
Monday, April 7th, 2008
The Top Ten Craziest Things John McCain Has Said While You Weren't Watching
Functional Programing is Beautiful
Totalitarian Political Entrepreneurship
"The Whole Church is Under Condemnation"
God's Brain and Information Theory
Is Family Size a Gendered Issue?
The Online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences
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