Gary Gygax, 1938 - 2008

The creator of Dungeons and Dragons and the man generally called the Father of Role Playing Games, Gary Gygax, died today at age 69. He had been in poor health for some time. There’s a memoriam thread going on on Slashdot today, where people can talk about Gary’s creation touched their lives. You can go ahead and chuckle and shake your head at the dice-chucking geeks and their silly game, but Gary’s creation has touched millions of lives and counting, and brought geeks of all generations together, people who otherwise might not have come out of their basements (so to speak) made new friends, fell in love, some even got married. People who otherwise might have given up on ever finding anyone like them found a tribe to call their own. And you can laugh at that if you want.

Lessig on whether Hillary can win (and whether she should)

Yes, it’s another drive-by link post. Anyone who knows me knows how I feel about this election. If there’s not a masked man with a molotov running, I’m not interested, because that’s what I feel this country really needs. But Lawrence Lessig posted a very interesting 10-minute clip addressing what he feels (and I agree) is the myth that Hillary Clinton is the “electable” Democratic candidate, and why Barack Obama is better for the Democrats, and better for the country.

It certainly doesn’t change my mind fundamentally on whether the American political system is worthwhile, but it does shed a little light on what I think is the Democratic party’s key weakness this year (and every year for the last decade or so): not knowing when they’ve won. If any election in the history of presidential elections shouldn’t be about “electability,” it’s this one. All the Democrats have to do is point at the other podium and say “They fucked it all up!” How in god’s name can we not beat these crooked sleazebags? So why not vote your conscience?

In my view, going with Clinton merely repeats the mistake the Democrats made in ‘04 with John Kerry. Howard Dean would have won. You know it and I know it. It’s not time for centrism, electability, or bipartisan compromise. It’s time to shoot these lame ducks out of the fucking sky so we can get on with the serious business of fixing this country.

-pd-