Nuketown Radio Active

By Nuketown Radio ActiveLeisure Games

Nuketown Radio Active episodes

August 23, 2024Radio Active #104: Rewind and Reload
On this episode of Radio Active … well, it’s been a while. So let’s look back and where we’ve been and take a look at where we’re going. It’s a mix of bad news, good news, and geeky news, so get ready for the info dump.
Nuketown News
Good-bye, Dad
My father passed away in December. My eulogy for him, which I presented with my sister as his memorial service, is up on Nuketown: Eulogy for a Dad … and a Teacher
NeutronLad is an Eagle Scout!
Completed his project in the fall, which was building agility ladders for Seeing Eye puppy clubs.
Eclipse ’24 in Vermont
Freaking awesome.
Movie eclipses can’t compete with reality.
Two kids in college. Whoa.
NeutronLad is officially a first-year student.
StarGirl is in her senior year.
Yeah, we’re empty nesters. Or something close to it.
Nuketown got an overhaul.
Makes it easier to promote projects and recent content.
Oh, and I left twitter.
Don’t worry, you can still find me on Dice.Camp. It’s more fun there anyway.
Leave us a review at Apple Podcasts!
Geek On
Posts made
Ready Player One Replay
Dig Dug – Ready Player One Video Game Replay
Pac-Man – Ready Player One Video Game Replay
Donkey Kong – Ready Player One Video Game Replay
Zork – Ready Player One Video Game Replay
Working on Colossal Cave.
Farewell to Google Jamboard
Entering the Matrix of Cyberpunk RED Campaigns
Meet Ben Bouchard, Spooky Hunter for Monster of the Week
Summer Reading List 2024 … because you knew there had to be one.
Podcasts!
Lair of Secrets Season 4
Podcasts
From Death Rays to Dragonbane (S4E1)
Gore and Lore in Fallout – Campaigns & Coffee
Videos
Unboxing Mothership
Unboxing Dragonbane
Unboxing Cyberpunk Edgernners
Games!
Cyberpunk 2077
Pinball FX
Dungeons & Dragons: Elemental Apocalypse
Cyberpunk RED
Books!
Alien: The Cold Forge
Station Eternity
The Stone Sky
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Leave us a review at Apple Podcasts!
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32 min
June 12, 2023Radio Active #103: The Sandwich Generation
At 51, with a kid in college and another in high school, I’m firmly in the Sandwich Generation (and have been for years). These are the folks who find themselves caring for kids and providing support for their older parents. In this episode, I talk about my experiences and offer advice for others in a similar place.
Don’t worry though – it’s not all serious. I take a look at the recently-concluded RPG Blog Carnival event over at Lair of Secrets and geek out about the first of the ZineQuest zines arriving in my mailbox.
Nuketown News
RPG Blog Carnival at Lair of Secrets – Switching Gears
Codex Anathema – Marvel Multiverse – Role-playing in the Marvel Multiverse

Plastic Polyhedra – Short Campaigns – Advice for running a shorter campaign (2-3 months, 10 adventures)

Seed of Worlds – Shifting Gears Over A Campaign – going from a city campaign to a hexcrawl, to extra planer excursions, to mythic adventures, to dungeon controls

Nuketown – Go Big or Go Bigger – Using bigger battlemaps in your online games

Lair of Secrets – Solo RPGs – venturing into solo RPGs like Ironsworn Starforged.

Lair of Secrets – Season 3, Episode 14 – Changing campaigns, genres, game systems, gaming groups, and more.

The Zines are Coming!
Forty Fiends: A Bestiary (Compatible with Mork Borg) – arrived! Horrific monsters like the Acid Apes, Hive Sprites, Bone Felon

Pressure Point – A game in which you destroy your zine by poking holes in it. PDF soon?

Progress is being made on the other zines I backed. Check out the complete list in Radio Active 101: Return of the Zine Scene.

Leave us a review at Apple Podcasts!
The Sandwich Generation
Stories
BBC: Why the ‘sandwich generation’ is so stressed out

Better Up: Sandwich generation: definition and how to help

Statistics
In 2018, 12% of American parents with children younger than 18 handled multigenerational caregiving. (Pew Research)

My experience
Circa 2014 – legal guardian for both of my grandparents (with my mom for my grandmother, with my sister for my grandfather) until they passed.
Navigated moving my grandfather into a care facility, selling his house to pay off the reverse mortgage, and frequent visits to the care facility to talk with him and deal with issues as they arose.

Executor for my grandfather’s estate when he passed away.

At that time, my kids were 11 and 8.

Circa 2020 through the current day – Helping my parents
I manage all of my dad’s doctor appointments, coordinate local care, and visit him to talk and deal with random problems (e.g. his phone stops working for some reason).

My kids are now 20 and 16 (almost 17). One’s in college, the other’s in high school.

Active in youth organizations (scoutmaster for the last 4 years) plus Seeing Eye Puppy Raising plus being married plus, oh yeah, a full-time job.

Impacts
You feel like you’re being pulled in every possible direction.

Whether it’s parents or kids, disruptions are the norm. It makes short-term and mid-term planning challenging.

Saps your motivation – once you’ve gotten through a day of work and helping everyone else, it’s hard to stay motivated to work on your own projects. Or do anything more than watch TV and have a beer.

Advice
Talk with friends or a support group: It can feel lonely, trapped in the middle, but you’d be surprised at how many people in a similar situation. Being able to vent is important; getting advice and suggestions is helpful too.

Document everything: I have an Apple Pages document with my dad’s doctor contact info (he has a bunch), upcoming medical appointments, and past medical appointments. I also have a Google Doc with my dad’s medical history (contributed by my mom). You don’t want to have to search for (or worse, remember) something when you’re on a call with the umpteenth medical provider. I use this doc to coordinate with my family, so they know what appointments are coming up, and who the doctors are.

Leverage digital access: Our local health networks have “My Chart”, which provides online access to patient information including doctor contact information, appointments, and test results.

Delegate: Hopefully, you don’t have to do it all. Delegate as much as possible (to siblings, other family members, spouses, etc.)

Take Time For Yourself: This is crucial – because disruptions are constant, it’s important to be able to get away – even for only an hour – and focus on yourself. It’s not selfish; it’s self-care.
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Jekyll’s Sandwich by avlxyz
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29 min
May 29, 2023Radio Active #102: Game-o-Rama
On this episode of Nuketown Radio Active, I emerge from my winter hibernation to talk about the video games and role-playing games I’m playing (or plan on playing). I talk about the ongoing Ready Player One Replay and my plans to attend GenCon in August 2023.
Nuketown News
Heading to GenCon in 2023!
Haven’t been there since 2014.
No idea what I’m going to play.
Ready Player One Replay continues
Recent games include:
Space Invaders
Star Raiders
The Empire Strikes Back
Yars’ Revenge
Raaka-tu
Coming soon-ish: Bedlam, Pyramid, and Madness and the Minotaur
Game-o-Rama: Video & role-playing games I’m playing
Video Games
Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands on PS4 and PS5
Borderlands … but with a Dungeons & Dragons skin (sorry, Bunkers and Badasses). Tiny Tina’s the game master, and you’re one of her players. But will she ever let you leave the table?
Finished the main story; it was a happy distraction.
Cyberpunk 2077 on PS5
Started playing 0n Steam via Nvidia’s streaming desktop service, GeForce Now.
Turns out, I’m pretty bad at FPS on a desktop computer.
Picked it up cheap on PS5 … and still struggled to get into it.
Requires a significant time investment to get emotionally connected to the game, but once you do … whoa.
The Nomad storyline was great and the game gives you a lot of opportunities to make small (and maybe large?) differences in the world.
Fire Emblem: Engage on Switch
More of the same Fire Emblem, though this time around we get an “engage” mechanic which lets you merge characters with spirit warriors bound to magic rings.
On the back burner right now as I play other games. Fire Emblem’s something I need to be in the mood for; but once I’m in the mood, I’ll likely lose a lot of sleep.
Pinball FX3 on Switch
Indiana Jones Pinball
Aliens Pinball
Creature from the Black Lagoon Pinball
GoldenEye on Switch
Finally … now if only I could map my brain to the control
Breath of the Wild on Switch
I started playing and never got off the plateau. The kids just got Tears of the Kingdom, so I figured I’d pick it up again.
Role-Playing Games
Ironsworn: Starforged
My Lair of Secrets friends got into this game and pulled me in along with them. A Powered by the Apocalypse game with a ton of moves (far more than a traditional PbtA game) set in the future where you decide why your civilization fled its home galaxy.
Playable in solo, co-op, or guided mode.
Got it in part to learn about oracles. Also, the solo aspect is appealing.
Cyberpunk RED
Gearing up for the next season of role-playing at Lair of Secrets.
I’ll be running a 6-8 episode Cyberpunk RED campaign set in Night City.
It’s an old-school, crunchy game, but ran pretty well in our playtests.
Taking a while to get off the ground because of myriad family commitments, but we’re getting there.
And it inspired me to go back and read William Gibson’s The Sprawl trilogy.
CY_BORG
Mork Borg … but with cyberware.
Just as over-the-top artwork as its predecessor.
Doubt I’ll ever run it, but it provides inspiration for Cyberpunk RED. Lots of great charts.
Elemental Apocalypse
My first new D&D campaign in years.
The Temple of Elemental Evil rose … and Greyhawk fell.
20 years later, our heroes are some of the last free people on the planet … and they’re ready to take the fight to their elemental overlords.
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26 min
February 17, 2023Radio Active #101: Return of the Zine Scene
On this special edition of Radio Active, we venture back to the Zine Scene, that mystical, half-remembered place of photocopied pages and hand-stapled booklets, in its 2023 iteration.
Return of the Zine Scene
February means Zines
ZineQuest 5
Zine Month 2023
What’s a Zine?
From Wikipedia:
“A zine is a small-circulation self-published work of original or appropriated texts and images, usually reproduced via a copy machine. Zines are the product of either a single person or of a very small group, and are popularly photocopied into physical prints for circulation.”
Zines I’m watching
CLEAN BREAK: A CY_BORG Heist – An adventure for the CY_BORG grim future game.
Golf Quest by Anna Blackwell. The game of pencil golf, upgraded. I played her DELVE game and loved it.
The Caves of Refuge by Cyrus Duane. A funnel-style adventure for Dungeon Crawl Classics. I played it twice; it’s a great offering.
Forty Fiends: A Mork Borg Bestiary – Horrors for the grim fantasy game.
Decagone – A tense, time-looping scenario for the Mothership scifi horror RPG, hurtling players into a fast-paced sub-nautical mystery.
The Ink That Bleeds: How To Play Immersive Journaling Games – The name pretty much says it all – a zine dedicated to playing solo journaling games.
Chiron’s Doom – a storytelling game about an ill-fated expedition to explore a mysterious monument.
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10 min
February 06, 2023Radio Active #100: The Golden Age of Online RPGs
On Radio Active’s 100th episode I talk about Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, a shoot-and-loot video game based on the Borderlands franchise, go on a solitary, geeky retreat to work on RPG and podcast projects, and contemplate the golden age of online role-playing games.
Nuketown News
Radio Active’s 100th Episode
It finally happened – Radio Active hit episode 100!
The first episode launched on March 14, 2005
That was 18 years ago. Heck, I didn’t even have two kids when this launched (Star Girl was 2; NeutronLad was still a year away).
Feels good to finally hit this milestone, so many years later.
Will it get to 200? Time will tell.
Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands
A Dungeons & Dragons-inspired spinoff to the Borderlands franchise.
Same basic mechanics (guns, lots of guns) with fantasy trappings as Tiny Tina runs you through her Bunkers and Badasses campaign.
There are some new mechanics – spells instead of grenades and a variety of melee weapons.
Plus a bunch of fantasy-inspired classes – e.g. Spellshot, Spore Warden, Stabbomancer, Graveborn
If you like guns and loot, then this is for you. Take your brain off the hook and blow stuff up.
And hopefully, I’ll get to play it online – the game is cross-platform, so it’s possible to play with folks on PCs, Xboxes, and PlayStations.
A Geeky Retreat
After dropping my daughter off at college in January, I went to my in-law’s lake house and hung out for a few days by myself (well, Hank was there).
Spent three days working on geeky projects
Recording episodes of Radio Active
Prepping for a Cyberpunk RED campaign
Prepping for a new Dungeons & Dragons campaign
Watching movies
Reading comic books
Staying up as late as I want and sleeping in as long as I want
(though I didn’t go totally crazy; I generally got to bed between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m.)
Great way to reset my brain after a stressful fall.
Golden Age of Online RPGs
A Golden Age amidst the Pandemic
COVID-19 is terrible. The impact of the pandemic on the world, our country, and my community was also terrible.
There have been a few upsides … and one of them has been role-playing games.
During the pandemic, fewer kid activities meant more time to game online. And that meant reconnecting with old friends and making new ones.
After the pandemic … I’ve got a kid in college and many of my kid-related obligations are winding down. I stayed in touch with my online gaming friends, and we’re contemplating new games.
As a result, I’m playing more RPGs – and more different kinds of RPGs – than I have since the early 2000s.
Past Campaigns
Brindlewood Bay
Army Corps of Engineers: Special Operations (Fate)
Tales from the Loop
Scum and Villainy
GURPS Fast & Furious (GURPS Lite, alternate Wednesday)
Chroniclers (D&D, Sundays)
Current Campaigns
Scales of Truth (D&D, alternate Wednesday)
Star Wars: The Old Republic (a home-grown D&D 5e/Saga Edition mash-up)
Future Campaigns
Cyberpunk RED @ Lair of Secrets (Thursdays)
Elemental Apocalypse with the Blackrazor Guild (Sundays)
What works with online games
Anyone, anywhere can play.
What doesn’t work with online games
The downside to anyone, anywhere is that time zones are hard.
Yet another online meeting. Even if this one has dice.
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22 min
January 30, 2023Radio Active #99: Sleepless in Easton
On this episode of Radio Active, I talk about returning to model rocketry, one of my all-time favorite hobbies, and then run down some of the great sci-fi shows I’m watching. The bulk of the show is dedicated to my trials and tribulations with getting enough sleep. It’s always been hard for me, but it got so much harder during the pandemic.
Nuketown News
Back to Model Rocketry
I inherited a bunch of rockets from my dad.
They’re old classics from the late 1970s and 1980s.
Examples include:
The Space Shuttle (Skill Level 4, Estes) – Features an orbiter glider that separates from the external fuel tank and SRBs at apogee
A Mercury Redstone – A challenging-to-build scale model of the iconic rocket
An SR-71 Blackbird – A hefty, double parachute rocket.
A Soaring Eagle – a glider that launches as a rocket, then spreads its wings and flies back to Earth
The Starship Enterprise – An ungainly rocket that doubles as a display model. Check out my build on Lair of Secrets
Working on finding places to launch in PA and NJ, which is harder than you think. Or maybe exactly as hard as you think.
So much good sci-fi streaming!
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (Paramount+) – All of the hope and optimism that you want from Star Trek
Star Trek: The Lower Decks (Paramount+) – My favorite new Trek, at least until Strange New Worlds came out. That same sense of optimism, but told from the perspective of those who aren’t on the command staff.
The Orville (Hulu) – The Orville started as a joke Star Trek, or at least, that’s what I thought it was. It’s still crasser than the series that inspired it, but it tackles serious topics.
The Peripheral (Amazon) – based on William Gibson’s book in which meddlers in a future timeline muck about with the past. Shades of cyberpunk, with temporal shinanigans.
Ready Player One Replay
The Ready Player One Replay continues, which is my attempt to play all of the video games mentioned in Ernst Cline’s novel (Amazon).
I finished Level I, consisting of 18 video games, in March 2022. I then started Level II, which is another 25 video games, that same month.
Why different levels? No reason, other than tracking effort. It also gives me breakpoints for reflection.
Recent games include Space Invaders, Pitfall, Kaboom! and The Empire Strikes Back.
Current playing the surprisingly complex Star Raiders, which is a prototypical starfighter simulator that inspired X-Wing and Wing Commander.
It was difficult to find a functional version of Star Raiders because it shipped with a dedicated keypad used only for that game (and which emulators had a hard time replicating … as in, they didn’t even try).
The keypad was needed to navigate the galactic grid (which allowed you to fight enemies and defend starbases. )
However, the Atari 50 collection (Amazon) includes a functional version from the Atari 5200, which includes an interface for the keypad.
Speaking of which, Atari 50 is a fantastic collection; probably the best retrospective collection I’ve seen. Has Atari arcade games, 2600 games (and successor systems like the 5200) as well as Lynx and Jaguar.
Includes a completed version of Swordquest: AirWorld (based on design concepts by series creator Tod Frye)
Also includes interviews and artifacts from throughout Atari’s long run (including experiments like its pinball division)
Still no third-party games (e.g. E.T. and Pitfall), which makes for an incomplete story. But still, it’s damn good.
Sleepy Thoughts
I’m a night owl.
Since high school, I prefer staying up late and sleeping late.
Worked great as a reporter. Worked great as a dad with young kids.
I fought insomnia (which I’ll define as the inability to sleep for more than 2-3 hours a night for a few days) on and off when I was younger. The solution was to pull an all-nighter, then sleep for 12-14 hours and reset my internal clock.
Doesn’t work so great in the modern age, with kids and parents who could suddenly need help.
Still … I was making due before the pandemic. (friends might disagree. they might be right.)
The pandemic played hell with sleep patterns.
I tend toward the “second sleep pattern”, which involves sleeping for a few hours, waking up, doing something for an hour, then going back to sleep. It’s the second sleep part that’s usually my problem.
COVID-19 is wrecking our sleep with coronasomnia – tips to fight back
Revenge bedtime procrastination: A plight of our times?
Why You Stay Up So Late, Even When You Know You Shouldn’t
Defensive Maneuvers
No caffeine after 1 p.m. I usually have 1 or 2 (ok, maybe 3) cups of caffinated coffee in the morning. After that, I switch to decaf. I may have a Coke or Mountain Dew with lunch (often one of the small 7.5 oz cans) but mostly, I’m drinking water, sparkling water, or decaf coffee.
More consistent bed and wake-up times. My goal is to get to bed by 10:30 p.m. and turn off the lights by 11 p.m. My wake-up time is 6.
Seven hours of sleep a night: My goal is to get seven hours of sleep a night. I’m averaging about 5 hours, 30 minutes. That’s been slowly moving toward 6.
More consistent exercise: I was in a great routine in the run-up to Philmont, less so afterward. Exercise is supposed to help you sleep more soundly; I can’t say that it does for me, but there are a lot of other variables at play here, so I want to keep doing it. A good workout every day (at least 30 minutes, preferably 60) is my goal.
Medication – Hydrozine: I occasionally take hydrozine. which is a mild anxiety medication. It helps with getting back to sleep by assisting me in short-circuting the endless “what if” loops that my tired brain gets caught in when I wake up in the middle of the night.
Recording Sleep: I experimented with adding a line for “sleep” to my habit tracker in my bullet journal, with three levels – red for a bad night’s sleep, gray for adequate sleep, and black for a good night’s sleep. I didn’t gain any great insights from the process, so I stopped doing that.
Is it working? We’ll see. Sometimes yes, sometimes no.
Promo
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29 min
January 23, 2023Radio Active #98: The Long Dark Winter
The Long, Dark, Winter is upon us, and in this episode, I talk about some strategies for dealing with it. I also talk about my family’s new Seeing Eye puppy, catch up on what’s been happening over the last year or so, and geek out about my new RPG campaigns.
Nuketown News
Welcome back – it’s only been a year!
If you’re hearing this, then you’ve got three more episodes to look forward to.
New episodes are already edited and ready to be released.
Let’s see how long this lasts, shall we?
A puppy leaves, a puppy arrives
Steven, a male black lab and our fifth Seeing Eye puppy, went back in September. He passed his physical and is currently working with a trainer.
Forest, our sixth puppy, arrived Dec. 27, 2022. He’s a male golden retriever.
Winding down as scoutmaster
After four years as scoutmaster of my son’s troop, I’m stepping down. I’ll still be there as an assistant scoutmaster, but my time leading the program is over. Meanwhile, NeutronLad is working on his Eagle project: building agility ladders for Seeing Eye puppies.
Back to the Game
RPGs:
Working on the epilogue to Scales of Truth, my lunchtime science-fantasy campaign. After finally reaching the Caverns of Kazeal (and surviving the mad AI inside) Norman the Lizard returns to his library to face the judgment of his peers. Will his friends support him?
Gearing up for a Cyberpunk RED campaign over at the Lair of Secrets. Been reading a ton of cyberpunk (the Sprawl Trilogy by William Gibson – Neuromancer, Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive) as well as watching cyberpunk movies (Bladerunner, Alita: Battle Angel, Cyberpunk Edge Runners)
Also prepping the Elemental Apocalypse, a Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition game in which the Temple of Elemental Evil rose … and was never defeated. Think Red Dawn meets Willow meets Independence Day
Console: Picked up Portal Companion Collection for the Switch. It’s every bit as darkly humorous as I remember.
The Lair’s Third Level
The Lair of Secrets, the podcast I’m doing with David Moore, is in its third season. We’ve been talking a lot of cyberpunk this season as we gear up for a run of Cyberpunk RED.
We even have the Neon Library, a cyberpunk book club. First up? Johnny Mnemonic (the short story by William Gibson)
Mastodon
Twitter’s dysfunction shifted into high gear over the last few weeks.
I created a profile at the Dice.Camp Mastodon instance. So far, it’s been more fun, more thoughtful, and more engaging than Twitter.
Winter Strategies
Hibernation mode
It’s cold. It’s dark. And I just want to sleep.
Energy levels are low and so is motivation. When it’s dark when you get up, and dark when you come home from work, it’s harder to do more than the minimum (even though the minimum is actually quite a lot)
A kid in high school means someone needs to get up at 6 a.m., so I’ve been doing that … and then promptly going back to bed
Staying Fit and Awake
This winter, I’m trying to get to the gym a few days a week.
Typically, that’s in the form of a run on the college’s indoor track.
That’s complicated by the fact that I strained my left-side oblique and ribs intercostal muscles (the muscles between the ribs) doing pushups in November.
Going to physical therapy to fix that.
Looking to branch out into rowing, elliptical, and strength training so I’m doing something every day
I’m trying to maximize my sunlight, both real and artificial
Walking to work (and around the neighborhood) more.
Digging out my sun lamp for my work office.
Sleep better
But more on that next episode…
Stress Relief
Hanging out with friends more.
Getting a massage more than once every 3 years
Meditating
Managing Effort
Being realistic about what I can do in a day.
I’ve got my family – a kid in high school, a kid in college
I’ve got work – and new responsibilities.
I’ve got my dad and his myriad doctor’s appointments
I’ve got scouts (though that will hopefully start taking up less time)
With the time I have left, what can I do?
Read a book
Read a comic book
Write
Work on RPG campaigns
Build model rockets (but more on that next time)
The key is defending time for me … that’s not at 4 a.m.
Promo
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27 min
November 15, 2021Radio Active #97: Cooking Dada
On this episode of Nuketown Radio Active, the trail to Philmont finally ends, I revisit my summer reading list, catch up on the first season of the Lair of Secrets podcast, reflect on the fact that one of my kids is in college, and talk about how I got into cooking during the pandemic.
Getting the Show
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Nuketown News
Philmont: Trail’s End
NeutronLad and I went to Philmont in Cimarron last summer for our 12-day backpacking trip.
We completed a quest two years in the making.
It was a hell of an adventure and one of these days I’ll write up my notes and thoughts on the trip.
For now, if you want to hear more about it, check out Episode 19 of the Lair of Secrets podcast
Don’t know what Philmont is? Catch up on the Trail to Philmont.
Lair of Secrets
Speaking of the podcast, it’s going well! We finished Season 1 – which consisted of 21 episodes – in Fall 2021.
After accumulating a hell of a backlog of recorded shows, we battled through the editing and got everything else.
Season 2 is kicking off now; the first episode is an interview with Matt and Marty Forbeck about their Shotguns and Sorcery Kickstarter for D&D 5e.
Summer Reading List 2021
The reading list was 14 books (10 novels, 3 non-fiction books, 1 short story collection), 2 novellas, and 8 graphic novels.
And I finished it all in one summer (something I haven’t managed in the last few years)
David Moore and I talk about our reading lists on Episode 17 of the Lair of Secrets podcast.
Some standouts:
Watership Down by Richard Adams – (Amazon) . One of my favorite books of all time I hadn’t re-read it in years. Planned to take it on the trail with me at Philmont, but it was too heavy; ended up reading it at Lake Champlain.
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir – (Amazon) – Weir’s back to form with a problem-solving astronaut who wakes up on a starship to find he doesn’t remember who he is, where he is, or what he’s supposed to be doing. Spoiler: It’s saving the Earth.
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky – (Amazon): Great book about the uplifting of an alien species told against the great sweep of time. Reminds me of Asimov’s Foundation series in its scope, and David Brin’s Uplift books in its ruminations on the intersections of biology, culture, and civilization
Life with a College Student
It’s hard to believe – wasn’t it just yesterday I was talking about StarGirl being a toddler? – but our daughter is now a first-year college student.
She’s attending a university in New England, which means she’s close enough for us to visit … but not regularly.
She’s doing well and rolling with the COVID punches.
Promo
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Cooking Dada
Lots of folks learned new skills during the pandemic.
If you didn’t, that’s totally fine. You don’t need to. Just making it to the next day was a win (and still is)
My new skill? Cooking.
Helps balance the workload between my wife and I.
A nice distraction from the pressures of the day.
Started with sheet pan recipes
Basically, cut up a bunch of vegetables. Throw in some chicken. Roast in the oven.
Evolved to HelloFresh
Supplies two meals a week.
You pick from a menu of options
Includes almost all of the ingredients (they assume you have, say, salt and pepper, olive oil, etc.)
Step-by-step illustrations.
It’s basically the LEGO kit version of cooking. Or maybe paint by numbers.
It’s fun. It’s easy. It tastes good.
Typically while listening to ’90s tunes, which amuses my family.
Probably not enough food if you’ve got ravenous teenagers, but it works for us (who have more subdued appetites)
Could use more / bigger portions of vegetables.
Moving on… to recipes!
While HelloFresh is easy and has been useful for building up my cooking skills, it only accounts for two meals a week, and doesn’t provide much in the way of leftovers.
Looking for some new go-to, easy-to-make meals. Preferably something I could do in a slow cooker or InstaPot.
I’ve been trying Simply Recipes, but haven’t found anything that really excites me or the family.
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A close up of that now-familiar Hello Fresh box. Photo by Ken Newquist.
The post Radio Active #97: Cooking Dada appeared first on Nuketown.
22 min
April 29, 2021Radio Active #96: Go Go Gadget!
In this episode, I say goodbye to a canine friend and welcome a new one, explore dungeons, and blast aliens in Nuketown’s Ready Player One Replay.
I introduce my new side gig podcast, the Lair of Secrets, the podcast about gaming and being a geek by two forty-something geek dads.
Finally, I geek out about the gadgets in my life. They may not be the newest or the shiniest gadgets out there … but they get the job done.
Getting the Show
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Note: The original version of Episode #96 was missing the music track, which led to strange bouts of opening silence in the intro. This version fixes that.
Nuketown News
Ready Player One Replay
I’m replaying every game mentioned in the book. I’m only a chapter or so in, and I’ve already reviewed 16 games.
The original plan was to review a game a day … but that’s way too much work.
Better to take it in batches and enjoy the games as I play them.
My favorites so far?
Robotron 2084 – frantic retro fun.
Smash TV – Also frantic fun, slightly less retro.
Akalabeth – A prequel to the Ultima series of games by Lord British. I’d never played it before and it was great discovering how it was connected to my all-time favorite run of games.
Worst games?
Zaxxon, by far. I have pleasant memories of playing it as a kid … but today, it’s agony. Stupid false perspective. Stupid controls. Stupid missiles. Stupid 40-year-old reflects.
Recon went back to the Seeing Eye in March. Puppy ‘S” – named Steven – arrived in April.
Lair of Secrets Podcast – the new side gig
The podcast about gaming and being a geek by two forty-something geek dads.
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My Gadget Life
I’m not a huge gadget guy … but I have a lot of gadgets.
I like tech that works and works well. I don’t need to keep up with the Joneses (even if one of my dogs is named Indiana). If the tech does what I need, then I keep using it.
Here are my current go-to gadgets:
Apple MacBook Pro 12″ (circa late 2012): You’ll notice a lot of Apple products on my list. Sure, they can be a little more expensive, but in my experience, they work well and they last. Case in point, my MacBook Pro, which is still pretty spry after 4 years of heavy use. The only problem is the battery, which is down to about an hour of usable time, but the replacement cost is reasonable.
Apple iPhone 12: Until recently, I had an iPhone 7. My most recent cold-weather campout killed the battery, so it was time to upgrade. I wasn’t sure about the larger size, but after a few days of using it, it feels natural. Excellent camera, very speedy performance.
Apple Watch Series 6: I’m on my 3rd Apple Watch (started with Series 1, then got Series 3, just moved to Series 6). Stuff I love:
The Health and Activity apps keep me honest about my physical activity (and motivated to improve it)
It’s water-resistant, so I can swim with it (and record my swimming workouts!)
It Bluetooth syncs with my earbuds, so I don’t need to bring my phone on runs if I don’t want to.
The cellular option lets me leave my watch at home but still answer texts and calls (I don’t use this, but it’s nice to have the option)
It’s great at finding my phone. Which I lose. All … the … time.
Apple Airpods Pro: I had a string of crappy Bluetooth headphones that worked ok for jogging, and then broke. I invested in the Apple Airpods Pro in January because they were water/sweat resistant and worked well with my devices. I wasn’t disappointed.
Apple iPad Air 2: I’d love to get the larger iPad Pro just to read digital comics … but that’s not a compelling enough reason to upgrade (or worth the extra cost). Mostly used for reading PDFs, note-taking during meetings when laptops aren’t appropriate, and comic books through Marvel Unlimited. Also games, or rather, one game: Sentinels of the Multiverse.
Amazon Paperwhite: The Paperwhite is my go-to device for most of my reading these days. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll still pick up the occasional print book, but I prefer digital these days. Digital books take up no space in the house (a serious consideration for someone who reads as much as I do) and the Kindle’s far more portable than a hefty hardcover (I’m looking at you, Oathbringer) which is important when camping and backpacking.
Nintendo Switch: Nintendo’s new console can be docked to a TV or used on the go; I usually do the latter (which usually means “going” to my couch). My favorite game is Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Nintendo 3DS XL: I love my 3DS. It’s been superseded by my Switch, but there are still games on here I want to beat, namely Fire Emblem Fates – Birthright and Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
Playstation 4: The workhorse console for my family – we use this for streaming television and movies as well as playing the occasional game.
Xbox One: A first-generation version of the console that’s barely holding it together, but is my son’s go-to gaming platform with his friends.
Anker Soundcore 2: My workhorse Bluetooth speaker. Outside, inside, camping, whatever – this rugged speaker comes with me.
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A few of my favorite gadgets. Credit: Ken Newquist
The post Radio Active #96: Go Go Gadget! appeared first on Nuketown.
19 min
February 10, 2021Radio Active #95: Into the Spider-Verse
Nuketown returns in a somewhat more timely manner as I take a break from my X-men fandom to delve into the Spider-verse.
Plus, I talk about my winter reading list, take a look at some new features at Nuketown, and introduce folks to Recon (our Seeing Eye puppy).
Getting the Show
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Show Notes
Nuketown News
Recon: Hello and Good-bye
My family is raising our fourth Seeing Eye puppy. His name is Recon and he’s a black Labrador retriever male.
We got him in July of 2019 at 7 weeks. Normally he’d have gone back to Seeing Eye when he was 14-16 months. Instead, he’s going back at in early March … when he’s 22 months old/
Read more about Recon on Nuketown.
Winter Reading List
The Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson – the fourth-book in the Stormlight Archive. Launching this book, and hearing Michael Kramer and Kate Reading speaking again, was like coming home to old friends. The pair narrated all of Robert Jordan’s books, as well as the previous three Stormlight Archive books. Taken all together, I’ve spent weeks of time listening to their voices – driving to my old job, hiking around the neighborhood, driving to Vermont for vacation – you name it. The biggest challenge will be getting through this book – it’s 57 hours long … so to make any progress, I’m going to need to be consistent with my morning walking routine.
Amazon – Rhythm of War: Book Four of The Stormlight Archive (The Stormlight Archive, 4)
Chaos Rising by Timothy Zahn – the early days of everyone’s favorite blue alien, Thrawn. The novel takes place in the Chiss Ascendency and involves the rise of a piratical threat to Thrawn’s homeland. It’s a fast, fun read – don’t go in expecting too much, and you’ll be entertained.
Amazon – Star Wars: Thrawn Ascendancy (Book I: Chaos Rising) (Star Wars: The Ascendancy Trilogy 1)
At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft. Illustrated by François Baranger. A beautifully haunting book that captures the isolation and splendor of Antarctica … and the growing cosmic horror that Lovecraft is known for. The book is being published in two parts; Part 2 comes out in 2021.
Amazon – At the Mountains of Madness
New features at Nuketown
Blogworthy
@NuketownSF Recap
Into the Spider Verse
Make Mine Spidey: When it comes to comics, I’m an X-Men fan. I’ve read Spider-man on and off over the years, but that switched to mostly off since the “One More Day” storyline in which Peter Parker’s marriage to Mary Jane was retconned out of existence thanks to a deal with the demon Mephisto. That said, I’ve been aware of subsequent developments in the Spider-verse, and my daughter’s a big fan of Spider-Gwen (from a variant universe in which Gwen Stacy gets bitten by the radioactive spider, and Peter Parker dies) and Silk (a young woman bitten by the same spider that bit Peter)
Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse: Fantastic movie that pulls together all of the varient spider-people that Marvel’s spun out over the last decade. It centers around Miles Morales, the black teenage Spider-man from Marvel’s Ultimate universe as well as Spider-Qwen, Spider Noir, Penny Parker, and her telepathic spider-powered mecha, “spider dad” (as my kids call him), and … Spider-ham? Awesome visuals, great music, and a kickass story. Easily the best Spider-man movie that Sony’s put out. Maybe the best Spider-man movie ever. I could watch it on a continuous loop. Heck, I have watched it on a continuous loop.
Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse
“Spider-verse” crossover event on Marvel Unlimited: Into the Spider-verse inspired me to check out the original “Spider-verse” mega-event. It featured Spiders from throughout the multiverse being hunted by the life-draining “Inheritors”. As stories go, it doesn’t pack the same emotional punch as Into the Spider-verse, but embrace the same sort of gonzo, “what’s in this universe” fun of the movie. I’d never have collected the print versions, but Marvel Unlimited makes it easy to read.
Wikipedia: Spider-verse
Spider-geddon crossover event on Marvel Unlimited: Why limit yourself to just one massive Spider-verse crossover event? The Inheritors are back and an ethics battle rages within the Spider friends as they debate how to end the threat once and for all.
Wikipedia: Spider-geddon
Spider-man and Spider-man: Miles Morales for Playstation: I haven’t played many Spider-man video games, mostly because 1) superhero video games tend to be terrible and 2) Spider-man video games tend to even more terrible than the average.
The first Spider-man game for Playstation 4 upends those assumptions. The game puts you in the role of Peter Parker in Yet Another Variant Spider-verse. This time around, he’s Doctor Octavius’ lab assistant (the good doctor hasn’t transformed into Doctor Octopus yet) while Norman Osborn (aka the Green Goblin in other universes) is the Mayor. The game opens with Peter having just taken down Wilson Fisk (aka Kingpin of Crime) … only to find that Fisk had been holding back an even worse criminal. It’s got a tight story set against an open-world Manhattan. The web-slinging mechanic is fantastic, and it’s tremendous fun to swing your way across the city. The game’s core-button mashing mechanic rewards those who care about combos, but doesn’t punish the casual gamer. There are your standard open-world collectibles — so, so many collectibles — but really they’re just an excuse to go web-swinging.
Video Game – Spider-man
In the sequel, Miles Morales, you follow Miles around the city as Peter and Mary Jane go to Europe for the winter. Lots of web-slinging around New York, with plenty of friendly-neighborhood spider-man action thanks to a Spidey app (he had to have one eventually). The game involves Roxxon and its plan to deploy a bunch of next-generation power plants around the city … power plants whose cores make people sick. It riffs on many of the same themes as Into the Spider-verse, and even includes Spider-verse inspired costumes and game play modes (in which the character’s frame rate is changed to match the movie, and various “pow” and “slam” word effects show up on screen)
Video Game : Spider-man: Miles Morales
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An iconic shot from Spider-man: Into the Spider-Verse. Credit: Sony Animation.
The post Radio Active #95: Into the Spider-Verse appeared first on Nuketown.
21 min

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