babbage linden

I met Jim Purbrick, aka Babbage Linden, in 2005. Initially, we were both Terra Nova authors. Then I read his PhD thesis. We met in person at the 2004 Austin Game Conference, including a memorable dinner paid for by none other than Brock Pierce and IGE (even though, Jim, [redacted], [redacted], and I sat at a different table and didn't talk to them). I was thrilled that we were able to hire Jim and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of working with him.

Thus, I am not at all surprised to learn from New World Notes that Jim showed up at the Linden holiday party as his avatar, complete with steam punk accoutrements exported from Second Life via OGLE and built out of cardboard. Read the whole story on Jim's blog and look at the pictures on Flickr.

meta-geek-fandom

Ze Frank just posted a collection of thoughts on the creative process. They're interesting and make for a fun read. While reading them, however, I was struck by the most meta-geek-fandom moment ever:

< zomg > I'm on the same page as Jonathan Coulton < /zomg >

See, Coulton's music is on all the time in our house because it is my daughter's favorite. Watching a four year old dancing around the house to "shop vac" and "chiron beta prime" is about the cutest thing ever.

Even if some of the lyrics will get me called into a parent-teacher conference.

And, yes, I know, Coulton has done a concert in Second Life but this is cooler.