This post on the Southern Maryland Housing Bubble News blog shows how easy it is for real estate agents to manipulate home data to deceive buyers. The blog has a photo showing how a local RE/Max agent doctored data to mislead buyers about the price of a recently sold house in addition to how long it had been on the market.

Please enjoy these family photos taken this month. The photo above is from the kids and I reenacting the classic Edgar Allen Poe story “The Cask of Amontillado”.

Wizards of the Coast has just published a short article on one-on-one gaming that looks interesting. I am in the process of teaching my wife how to play D&D (her first RPG) and I’ve been debating which tact to take. I want her to be “in control” rather than GMing a game with a slew of NPCs taking on the bad guys. This article has some good advice.

Playing with just two, however, opens up a lot of possibilities. Because it is just the two of you, combat moves much more quickly, as you dont have to wait to take turns or for other people to decide on things. Everything, for that matter, moves more quickly, and the game can move as quickly or as slowly as you like. If you find something that is interesting to you, theres no pressure to rush on because other folks are not interested. You can talk to NPCs for as long as you like; you can flirt and have your character fall in love without having to role-play the romance in front of an audience and playing with your spouse is a big plus in that area. You can follow adventure hooks that tickle your fancy. You have great freedom to decide the structure and flow of the campaign and what it will be.

Reuters is reporting that former AIG head Maurice Greenberg may be interested in taking over the New York Times:

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Maurice Greenberg, the former head of insurer American International Group Inc. (AIG.N: Quote, Profile, Research) is interested in launching a takeover for all of New York Times Co. (NYT.N: Quote, Profile, Research), CNBC television reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed sources.The report came after the New York Post said that Greenberg has been buying shares of the company to try to break the Sulzberger family’s hold on the media group.

This is very interesting given:

1. His past conflict with New York’s Governor-Elect Eliot Spitzer. (see wikipedia entry above)

2. He’s publicly stood up to Iran President Ahmadinejad’s lies. Quote of his from this interview:

He has been quoted many times, including last evening, that the Holocaust needs to be explored as to whether or not it really occurred. And he says, “Well you know, every time somebody tries to do that, they get imprisoned.” Well, the reason some have been imprisoned is because it’s against the law in some places to deny that the Holocaust occurred.

Of course it occurred. And when he said that, I responded: “Listen, I went through Dachau during the war. To suggest it didn’t occur is simply a lie.” So he turned around and asked me how old I was, to determine if I was old enough to have been there. And then he changed the subject.

3. Gotta love his political contributions!

(Via Drudge)

The little ones are getting to the point where they identify or focus on particular characters when they watch movies. Sometimes their choices are a bit interesting, for example:

When watching Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Maggie wants to know where Gaston is and she’s concerned that he hurt himself when he falls from the castle at the end of the movie. You’ll remember, Gaston is not exactly the hero of the movie, he doesn’t understand why Belle would be interested in books and is the one who finally encourages the town to “Kill the beast!” in order that he may have Belle. Yet, he’s Maggie’s favorite.

My favorite quote from Gaston: “It’s not right for a woman to read. Soon she starts getting ideas, and thinking…”

Joey, in what I think is a very astute observation, considers Samwise Gamgee to be the main character in the animated version of The Return of the King. I don’t think he understands why the events in the movie are happening. He knows about the ring and that it’s special but nothing much beyond that.

And lastly, I get the sense that both kids are cheering for Smaug while they watch the animated version of The Hobbit. They have this thing for dragons, you see.

I knew I shouldn’t have taken all those courses on existentialism in college… I’ve been tainted.

You scored as Existentialism. Your life is guided by the concept of Existentialism: You choose the meaning and purpose of your life.

“Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.”
“It is up to you to give [life] a meaning.”

–Jean-Paul Sartre

“It is man’s natural sickness to believe that he possesses the Truth.”

–Blaise Pascal

What philosophy do you follow? (v1.03)
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Ben Robbins over at ars ludi presents an interesting concept in this entry. Why not put a second AI into video games whose purpose is to maximize the player’s enjoyment of the game.

Whats missing is the Second AI, the AI that controls the game itself, the AI that tries to make sure the player is having fun. The enemy AIs arent supposed to do that — theyre supposed to try and win, not cut the player a break.

So what would this Second AI do? Moderate random events within the world of the video game, swinging them for or against the player to maximize the fun. Increase the challenge when the game is too easy, or foil the enemies a bit if the player is having too hard a time.

I really think this a compelling idea and may be a solution for what I find really lacking in CRPGs, a dynamic GM that is driving the game and paying attention to what keeps me motivated and involved.

You scored as Storyteller. The Storyteller is in it for the plot: the sense of mystery and the fun of participating in a narrative that has the satisfying arc of a good book or movie. He enjoys interacting with well-defined NPCs, even preferring antagonists who have genuine motivations and personality to mere monsters. To the Storyteller, the greatest reward of the game is participating in a compelling story with interesting and unpredictable plot threads, in which his actions and those of his fellow characters determine the resolution.

With apologies to Robin Laws.

What RPG Player (Not Character) Type Are You?
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We were having Thanksgiving Day leftovers for lunch today, and Joey put a fork half-full of cranberry sauce on the table. He then proceeded to pick up a lima bean and a kernel of corn and held them above the fork.

Joey then said, “Look at my traffic light!”

After I chased the kids around this evening, pretending to be a zombie, they decided to embrace their own zombieness:

I find chasing the kids around, pretending to be a zombie and trying to unhinge their skulls, is an effective way of preparing them for bed. My wife, not so much.