Jay Digital's New Writeups

Concorde fallacy (idea)

2008-11-05T01:34:27Z

The Concorde Fallacy is the philosophy that if you realise a project is doomed to failure, it's better to cut your losses than insist on finishing.

This is a horribly defeatist strategy, and worse, it doesn't always apply.

1. You can be wrong

On one occasion, we were travelling to an airport when the radio warned that all flights by our airline that day had been cancelled. Rather than waste the effort, we continued on. It emerged that the news report was slightly exaggerated, and the company was able to secure us alternative seats.

2. A half-success is better than none

A party of adventurers has battled through two levels of an ancient dungeon in the belief that it contains a powerful book of spells worth forty thousand gold pieces. Suddenly, the wizard realises they're in the wrong dungeon and the treasure in this one is only worth ten thousand. They continue on regardless, because ten thousand is still worth it.

3. Your luck

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Battle Masters (thing)

2007-11-23T15:11:50Z

Battle Masters is a massive, remarkable game. I remember receiving this as a kid one Christmas when Santa was all out of Hero Quest, and being amazed at just how huge the box was. The game certainly lived up to its carton: The vinyl battle mat was five feet square, bigger than any table we had, so we had to lay this out on the floor. I'm convinced this game was invented to get kids to clean their room.

If you already play something like Warhammer Fantasy, you'll probably find this game too simple. If you're new to fantasy wargaming, you may enjoy this (now out of print) game. A disclaimer: if you find a set in someone's attic or intend on buying one on ebay, be warned that this game is an all-day affair. Setting up all the miniatures takes a fair amount of time, and actually playing a round of Battle Masters, crawling onto the floor and reaching across the mat to move your units, can be a lengthy experience. Arguably, however, that's half the fun.

How to Play Battle

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Katamari Damacy (thing)

2004-10-01T01:31:38Z

塊魂

カタマリダマシイ

The name Katamari Damacy can be roughly translated as "soul of a clump", with "clump" referring to the ball of detritus that the game's main character rolls around with. The name's translation isn't clear at first, so for those of you interested I'll explain here.

塊

Katamari, the first of the two kanji, means a "lump; mass; clod; cluster", in other words a pile of collected-up dirt or the like. This is pretty straightforward.

魂

The second kanji, which is what usually confuses readers, is not damacy but tamashii - a word meaning "soul" or "spirit". Why the unusual pronunciation and spelling? There are two possible explanations for the pronunciation, either (or likely both) of which may be correct. One is that damashii is simply an accented way of saying the word tamashii…

selective-fire (thing)

2004-03-11T17:46:57Z

Selective-fire, or "select fire", is a property of some firearms which allows the user to change their mode of firing, usually by means of a switch. Typically, this allows it to alternate between semi-automatic and automatic firing, or occasionally it incorporates a burst-fire mode.

The example you are most likely to be familiar with is the Glock 18 Select Fire, the terrorists' starting pistol from the game Counterstrike. This handgun can alternate between semi-automatic (where pulling the trigger fires one round and loads the next one into the chamber) and burst-fire mode (where several bullets are fired in quick succession). The selective-fire switch acts as a safety, preventing you from using excessive force as well as conserving your ammunition.

Some select-fire weapons, usually military weapons, allow the wielder to choose between semi-automatic and automatic firing by means of a special select-fire trigger rather than a seperate switch. Such a trigger…

Chocobo (thing)

2004-02-07T02:30:40Z

Another famous aspect of the ever-present Chocobo is its theme music. Since the Chocobo's first appearance in Final Fantasy III (Japanese 3, not US 3), it has been accompanied by this jaunty melody. Like the Chocobo itself, the song's melody has remained unchanged from game to game, although each game has its own interpretation of the song - some, like Final Fantasy VII, sporting several Chocobo themes.

Final Fantasy III: "Chocobo de Cue" was the original Chocobo theme, as my sources inform me that the Chocobo did not appear in any earlier Final Fantasy games. "Cue" or "Kue" is the sound a Chocobo makes, usually translated to the more recognisable "Wark!" (This game should not be confused with Final Fantasy VI, which was originally released in America named Final Fantasy III.)

Final Fantasy IV: To the best of my knowledge, this game's chocobo theme had no proper name. FF4 featured three Chocobo themes: the Chocobo Forest theme, the Chocobo theme proper and…

phone booth (thing)

2004-01-16T05:51:49Z

I was just reading this writeup, and it got me thinking about the recurrence of phone booths in American fiction.

The protagonists in The Matrix use phone booths as exits via which to leave the Matrix (and, perhaps, also to enter it) - an equivalent to mediaeval fantasy's magical portals. In Keanu Reeves' earlier film, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, a time-travelling phone booth is a Matrix-like means to make a quick escape. Unlike The Matrix, however, the phone booth is his only real "super power" (air guitar notwithstanding).

This, in turn, reminded me of Superman - the old Christopher Reeve Superman from the films I watched as a kid, who would often use a nearby phone booth to change into his trademark red-and-blue outfit. Unlike Bill and Ted he doesn't need the phone booth per se, but the outfit change that represents his transition to an alter ego of sorts - the phone…