Ubiquitous Academicians

In the midst of various activities this week, I didn’t really get a chance to keep up on the current events – much less write about them. In any case, I apologize for my desultory posts.

A great loss has been sustained by the role-playing community this week: Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons, passed away on the fourth of this month.

Born Ernest Gary Gygax in 1938, Mr. Gygax – along with Dave Arneson – created the first Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game. He played his entire life, faithfully Dungeon-mastering right up until his death. He has been a fixture in role-playing culture, often known affectionately as “The Great Gygax.” He attended many conventions and other events, and loved to receive feedback from D&D Players from around the globe.

Among his other accomplishments are co-founder of Tactical Studies Rules (with Don Kaye), International Federation of Wargamers, Gen Con mastermind, Lake Geneva Tactical Studies Association, and co-author of Chainmail.

Needless to say, he will be sorely missed. May he rest in peace, occupying a throne overlooking the Blessed Fields of Elysium, his faithful dice beside him.

This ends the nerd section of this post.

As I mentioned in my introduction paragraph, I didn’t really catch much of the news this week. I did, however, notice two blows to the American political scene.

First, Sen. Hillary Clinton won strong enough support to keep her a definite factor in the Democratic nomination race.

Ouch. How could you do this to the rest of us? Ohio, Texas – I’m ashamed of you! Rhode Island? You people are asking to be pushed off into the Atlantic!

In all seriousness – she claims to “know and love” Texas. Remember, the state that gave us George W. Bush? Sure, she loves Texas. Like I love her. Or Bush.

Second, Sen. John McCain has the Republican nomination. Nomination. This means he has the support of roughly half of the citizens of the U.S. right now – scared? This is the man who wants to be at war. Wants to be fighting, killing, ruining lives, displacing families – and not just the people of Iraq, but Americans too. Do we really want him sitting at the controls?

I think not.

That’s all for now – I’ll write again soon. And I won’t use so many – dashes.

Well, it looks like she’s out of luck. While it is still a bit early to make predictions, I’m still going to try. This may be more of a deep, soul-felt hope, but it looks as if that hope may be realized. I’ll just say it:

Hillary Clinton is finished.

Tonight, the people of Wisconsin joined the ranks of Americans who have denied Hillary a win in the last ten primaries and caucuses. With the residents of the Dairy State giving her a thumbs-down, Clinton takes another giant step away from the White House.

Of course, I may be speaking too soon. There is still the pompous and twisted John McCain campaigning for the presidency, as it would seem to be a given that he will be the Republican nominee. However, my question for the republicans who don’t have a favorite candidate as of yet, why vote for McCain? While you are told that you should “help the party” and “keep the frontrunner strong”, if the frontrunner is a corrupt warmonger, do you really want him to be strong? There are alternatives – indeed, the beauty of democracy is that we will always have other options; we just have to chase them.

I urge you, people of America, to take another look at the candidates and choose the one you feel can lead America with strength, justice and benevolence.