In Memoriam

"How wonderful Dungeons & Dragons was actually invented by a guy named Gygax!" ~ Mitch Benn, entertainer on BBC4's The Now Show.

Yep. How wonderful indeed. It's a bloody good name.

He died aged 69 (Dude!) on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. What he left to the world was many other worlds for a lot of people to explore. Some of those people developed strong friendships from those explorations. Others got married. I did both, and I owe it to Mr. Gary Gygax, because if I hadn't decided to go to a D&D game one cold, wet Sunday in 1992 I wouldn't have met Ogrek about 3 months later ~ although I came close; he still remembers the green-and-red haired punk in the ABC Cinema during a Star Trek 1 to 6 Marathon a couple of years earlier.

I'm not the only one. Tarol Hunt (who does Goblins) met his soulmate at a game, as did many, many others. Not bad for a game considered to be the domain of 'Geeks' who didn't have a hope of 'getting laid'.

He's homaged in Dexter's Laboratory and Futurama, two of my favourite cartoons. The fact that he uses a D6 and a D10 in an episode in the latter because there were no D20s developed until a little while after the game system still brings a smile and makes for interesting D&D trivia down the pub.

The Griffin Gamers honoured him with an empty chair placed at the gaming table.

Goodbye Gary. Don't forget your dice.

~Chaszmyr

Well, Fuck!

My sister was 10 when she was picked by her class in school to read a news article out in an Assembly ~ the theme was Current Events, and she was asked to read about the elections in Pakistan in 1988.

She spent ages learning how to pronounce the name Benazir. In her first efforts it came out as 'Ben-a-jeer' but with practice, perseverence and encouragement from Mother she did it. I felt about 10 foot tall when she read out her news item loud, proud and clear.

I had little recollection of the significance of the election itself, I had very little perception of or interest in world-changing events then; what I've learned since has only been recently. The only time that India and Pakistan had been in my thoughts in nearly 20 years had been when both countries had performed nuclear tests in the late nineties, and I had genuinely feared for the world upon hearing the news. I remember coming home depressed and getting drunk that night.

Well she's dead now. Benazir Bhutto, politician, prime minister, mother and tie-er of my 10-year-old sister's tongue back in the day has been assassinated. By a suicide bomber. I know very little about her beyond this little bit of nostalgic whimsey but the news has still pissed me off.

Here's the links, courtesy of the BBC;

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7161590.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/2228796.stm

~ Chaszmyr

Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep

Do not stand at my grave and weep

I am not there.

I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow

I am the diamond glints on snow.

I am the sunlight on ripened grain

I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you awaken in the morning's hush,

I am the swift uplifting rush

Of quiet birds in circled flight.

I am the soft stars that shine at night.

Do not stand at my grave and cry,

I am not there;

I did not die.

~Anonymous, Londonderry 1989

The funeral's tomorrow.

A death in the family

Sleep peacefully, dear friend,

And soar upon Heaven's wings;

We'll see you again soon.

Blair Dennant-Hirst, the father of your husband, passed away peacefully today at about 5:30pm BST. Rest In Peace.

Reflection upon Death and Justice

Sally Clark died on friday.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/6465525.stm

This link from the BBC provides some of the the story, but the brief explanation is this; she was unlucky enough to lose two of her children, one to cot death, the other to meningitis. Although in the case of the latter the cause of death was not established until after tests, which got mislaid for a while.

She was tried and convicted of the murder of both these children on the basis of flimsy statistical evidence on the part of a so-called 'expert' and spent three years in prison for a crime she didn't commit. During this time her third child was taken away from her.

Her case went to appeal, was re-investigated and she was released, but she never recovered fully from the trauma of the experience. On friday she was found dead in her home.

Your first thought was suicide. And a lack of surprise, but considerable sadness, at this conclusion. So far the cause of death has been ruled as natural, but further tests are being made. You heard another woman, also a victim of a miscarriage of justice, tell Jeremy Vine on Radio 2 that she died of a broken heart, and remembered that there is even a medical term for it.

You've heard it described as an Aortic Aneurysm. Often suffered by the survivor of a close relationship that is brought to a crashing end by their partner's death. And in this case, you believe, by Sally Clark.

Rest In Peace Sally; your children are waiting for you.

*******************************************************************************

On the subject of miscarried justice, the three men who were wrongly convicted of the murder of paperboy Carl Bridgewater have been informed that they will be having 'living expenses' deducted from the compensation they received for their stay in jail.

Wait a minute? Living expenses?

For being wrongly imprisoned? For over a decade?

This probably explains how the A-Team started out. No wonder you frequently despair of humanity and masquerade on the internet as a drow elf.