Gen Con updates Event Spotlight

25+ Event Ideas for Gen Con Indy 2012 With Gen Con Indy 2012 approximately one week away, you may have your schedule of games to play mapped out to the millisecond. However, if you are looking for activities during the show or looking to replace a canceled event, have no fear! Below, more than 25 different event ideas are listed for your perusal. Sign-up for events online, and save yourself some additional wait times at the show. Looking for a catalog of open premier events, chosen by the Gen Con Events team, with updated ticket listings? Go here. The Gen Con team looks forward to seeing you next week, and as always wishes you an outstanding Best Four Days in Gaming™! First Exposure Playtest Hall Do you want to try new games before anyone else? How about even before they reach stores? As announced last week, Gen Con is pleased to debut a new gaming area in 2012 - the First Exposure Playtest Hall. Attendees can sample new games and speak with their creators throughout the entire convention weekend. The First Exposure Playtest Hall will reside in Sagamore Ballrooms 6 and 7. Players who are interested in trying out new game concepts should add playtest event tickets to their schedule, like a standard event. Onsite, players will receive information regarding the games they will playtest. Authors, designers, and publishers interested in presenting their prototypes for playtesting should fill out an application form and read through the area’s full policies and instructions. Dungeons & Dragons Keynote Address Join Wizards of the Coast for an unprecedented look into the future of Dungeons & Dragons, including the evolution of the game, the re-birth of a fantasy setting and the next generation of D&D art. Wizards of the Coast is proud to host the first-ever keynote address at Gen Con on Thursday, August 16 to share with D&D fans what’s in store for the game that has changed gaming forever. Speakers include President and CEO of Wizards Greg Leeds, Senior Manager for D&D Research and Design, Mike Mearls and some of the greatest creative minds in the industry. The keynote begins at 7:00 pm in the 500 Ballroom of the Indianapolis Convention Center and will be live-streamed at DungeonsandDragons.com/events. For more information or to register for this event, click here. Bemani Invasion - Arcade Rhythm Games Love Rhythm Games? Play all of your favorites along with many games you may never see again in North America! Stop into the Nexus Gaming Alliance & Bemani Invasion’s Arcade Room to play games such as Dance Dance Revolution X2, Technika 3, Taiko no Tatsujin, Beatmania IIDX Lince, Pop’n Music Fantasia, and many more! Want to prove you are the best? Sign-up for the Dance Dance Revolution tournament (EGM1238376)! You can get 4-hour or 8-hour passes for $8 (EGM1238739) or $12 (EGM1238743), respectively. Want to play all day? Buy a day pass for $20 (Thursday EGM1238746, Friday EGM1238747, or Saturday EGM1238748) – and play all the arcade dance games you want! And don’t forget to check out the other video game events in the eGames Arena this year! Indie Games Explosion Come to Indie Games Explosion and play exciting and unique independently-produced tabletop and story based role playing games, without having to sign-up before the event. Bring your event tickets and get a taste of cutting-edge small press games like Fiasco, Monsterhearts, Dungeon World, Apocalypse World, 13th Age, Cthulhu Dark, Mouse Guard, Trail of Cthulhu, Bulldogs!, Swords Without Master, Lady Blackbird, Dread, and many more. Curious about indie RPGs? Drop in and they will find a game for you! No experience is necessary: our friendly GMs teach all the rules! And they love your previously unused generic tickets! Find the Indie Games Explosion at Room 238 and check out the general schedule online. Live Music Events! A variety of bands – from rock to nerdcore to video game music to mixed comedy performances – will perform in Grand Ballroom II and III on the second floor of the Westin, just across the skywalk from the Indiana Convention Center on Friday, August 17 and Saturday, August 18. Have extra generic event tickets? Why not see a show after a day of playing games? For more information on the acts, please click on the following links: Friday o 6 pm: ENT1238762 - Soup or Villainz o 8 pm: ENT1238081 - Five Year Mission o 10 pm: ENT1238347 - Straight Outta Comic Con Saturday o 3 pm: ENT1238095 - Pillage & Plunder o 5:30 pm: ENT1238738 - Sci-Fried o 7 pm: ENT1238349 - Professor Shyguy Settlers of America BGM1230091 – Settlers of America Thursday 9 pm Come to play just for fun or to compete in the tournament. Use the familiar Catan system to settle the American West. Win and advance to the Settlers of America Tournament Final. Race for the Galaxy CGM1237668 - Race for the Galaxy Mini-Tounament Saturday 7 pm Your Commercial/Military even entertainment empire is at stake. Defeat the other empires in one set and move up to defeat the four other winning empires. Best 2 out of 3 in the 1st round to determine who will play in the 2nd round. Second round is best winner in a hand, pending the participants agreement. Other players who participated are welcome to continue to play free games. Robo Rally BGM1231185 – Robo Rally Thursday noon, 4 hours Left, right, left, right, forward. NOT THE PIT! Can you control your robot better than everyone else? Find out in this great robot battle game. Easy to learn but hard to master. Flames of War HMN1231227 - FOW Mid War Tournament Saturday 9 am, 10 hours Flames of War, 3rd edition 3 Round - 1625pt. Mid War Regional Qualifier Tournament. Will try to keep matches Red vs. Blue if possible. Passion Play LRP1231247 – Nightside Passage Thursday 10 am, 4 hours Passion Play, 2nd edition In the year 4999 the passengers and crew of the starship Dragonfly face intrigue and sabotage in deep space. A space opera set in the worlds the Fading Suns. LRP1231251 – The Baron’s Silver Masque Friday 8 pm, 4 hours Passion Play, 2nd edition In the year 5011, as the suns continue to fade, Nobles, Priests, and Guilders plot to uncover the secret hidden behind the Baron's silver masque. A dark romantic space opera of the Fading Suns. Vampire: The Masquerade LRP1237842 - Legends of Andorra Vampire: The Masquerade, MET Addendum edition Thursday 6 pm, 6 hours There are certain Laws that exist in the Night... and someone or something is breaking them. Urban Legends of the creatures of Andorra have plagued this stronghold of Europe... but how far is too far? Legend of the Five Rings LRP1229801 – Raising the Imperial Standard Friday 2 pm, 4 hours Legend of the Five Rings, 4th edition With Otosan Uchi threatened by an organized and dangerous enemy, the samurai of Rokugan must find a strong leader to unite behind on the battlefield. TCG1231502 - L5R North American Championship Storyline Qualifier Thursday noon, 8 hours Legend of the Five Rings, Emperor edition 40/40 Emperor TCG Constructed Event. Warmachine & Hordes NMN1234832 – Rite of Passage Tournament (WM/Hordes Qualifier) Thursday 10 am, 10 hours Warmachine & Hordes, MKII edition 50 PT SR2012 tournament, SR 2012 Appendix Rules: 2 Lists Required, Divide and Conquer, 5 Round Event, Death Clock. Top 4 players qualify for the WM/Hordes Masters on Saturday. Enemy Engaged NMN1229315 – The Battle of Molecay Saturday 10 am, 6 hours Enemy Engaged, 2nd edition The legendary Commander Cain and the fifth fleet takes on major Cylon forces at one of the most famous battles in Colonial history. Choose your side to help decide the fate of Cain... does he (or she) survive or do the Cylons win out and decimate both the fleet and Cain as well? Another large scale miniature assault in the Battlestar Galactica universe. Storyteller RPG1236850 – A Night at the Circus Thursday 10 am, 4 hours Storyteller, Revised edition Come one, come all to the Midnight Circus! See ferocious animals and astounding acrobats in The Big Top! Take in the incredible marvels at the Sideshow! A pittance to enter, a lifetime to play... Samurai X Blade RPG1238467 – Blade Showdown Friday 2 pm, 6 hours SAMURAI X BLADE, 1st edition A Japanese coterie (Dojin) RPG systems authored by Sumito Kurakashi. A significant feature of the game is its unique systems using dice and Japanese traditional playing cards (Hanafuda). It is recommended for person who likes modern Japanese culture. Diplomacy BGM1231133 – Diplomacy Introduction Thursday, noon For those who have always wanted to learn, here is your chance to play. For those who just need a refresher, come and play the intro and then play in the tournament qualifier later. Feedback Seminar SEM1238688 - EO & GM Feedback Sunday 10 am This is your chance to give us feedback about the event process at Gen Con. Good or bad, questions or problems that we need to fix for next time - let us know so we can try to address it.

The Amazing Contents of Steve Wozniak's Travel Backpack

The Amazing Contents of Steve Wozniak's Travel Backpack

Elizabethan Curse Generator

Thou brazen folly-fallen codpiece!
Thou saucy unchin-snouted barnacle!
Thou distempered dismal-dreaming hempseed!
Thou grizzled empty-hearted horn-beast!
Thou vain bat-fowling egg-shell!
Thou whoreson flap-mouthed dogfish!
Thou roguish clay-brained crutch!
Thou prating folly-fallen codpiece!
Thou spleeny full-gorged mumble-news!
Thou greasy lean-witted flirt-gill!
Thou goatish shag-eared dewberry!

Elizabethan Curse Generator

Feasting And The Culture of Anglo-Saxon Food

Feasting And The Culture of Anglo-Saxon Food

The History Blog Stolen “Sarcophagus of the Quadrigas” returns after 21 years

The gaming side is the need to either steal or recover thevitem.

The History Blog » Blog Archive » Stolen “Sarcophagus of the Quadrigas” returns after 21 years

Brewing Stone Age beer

July 20, 2012 - 07:10

Beer enthusiasts are using a barn in Norway’s Akershus County to brew a special ale which has scientific pretensions and roots back to the dawn of human culture.

Keywords:Agriculture, Alcohol, Culture, Food, Stone Age

SendPDFPrint

By: Asle Rønning

Jørn Kragtorp (left) and Manfred Heun brew beer from the primitive wheat known as einkorn. Here they are adding a malt of einkorn, ready to start the brewing process. (Photo: Asle Rønning)

The beer is made from einkorn wheat, a single-grain species that has followed humankind since we first started tilling the soil, but which has been neglected for the last 2,500 years.
“This is fun − really thrilling. It’s hard to say whether this has ever been tried before in Norway,” says Jørn Kragtorp.
He started brewing as a hobby four years ago. He represents the fourth generation on the family farm of Nedre Kragtorp in Aurskog-Høland, Akershus County.
Part of the barn has been refurnished as a meeting room, but space was also allotted for small-scale beer production.

Prehistoric beer

In the past year this brewing has become more scientific after Kragtorp teamed up with a rural neighbour, Manfred Heun, a plant geneticist and a professor at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (UMB).
“This is experimental. We’re trying to brew prehistoric beer,” explains Heun.
Heun has conducted research on einkorn wheat for years and came up with the idea of brewing ale here in Norway from malt made of the ancient grain.
Einkorn may have been the first cereal to be cultivated by the original Stone Age farmers.

Original farmers

Manfred Heun, who is an expert on einkorn genes, has helped trace the origin of the domesticated form of einkorn to the highlands in Southeastern Turkey.
A wild einkorn that's genetically similar to the domesticated strain still grows in this region. This region is also considered by many to be the cradle of agriculture, with indications that farming started here 10,000 years ago.
Einkorn might have played an important role in the transition from a hunter-gatherer society to agriculture in this part of the world.

When the wort is ready it smells good. Jørn Kragtorp gives it a whiff. (Photo: Asle Rønning)

Perhaps the wish to brew beer for celebrations and ceremonies was a prime motivation for raising grain. This would put the brewing at Nedre Krogtorp into a very long perspective.

In Scandinavia

Six thousand years after people pioneered agriculture in the Near East, it spread to most of Europe. Einkorn was a part of this slow-rolling agricultural revolution together with other cereals from the Middle East and Turkey.
It’s known that einkorn was raised as a crop in the south of Scandinavia during the region’s Bronze Age (1700 - 500 BC). Scientists aren’t sure, however, whether einkorn was cultivated in Norway.
In any case this cereal has fallen into disuse for the past 2,500 years as other kinds of wheat were developed which gave bigger yields.
The beer now being brewed among the patches of forest and fields in inner Akershus County could be the first made from einkorn in this country – at least since the Bronze Age.

Imported malt

Bronze Age methods are not used in the brewing process. It’s brewed like any beer.
“Now it’s most common to brew beer from barley. But you can make it from all kinds of grains, from corn, rice and wheat,” explains Jørn Kragtorp.
Malt, made of sprouted grain, is always the starting point. In this case the einkorn malt was imported from Germany.
It’s ground up and warm water is added for half an hour while the temperature is closely monitored. The process is called mashing and the sweet liquid this produces is called the wort. This is filtered and boiled for just over an hour before it's all allowed to cool.

Devil in the detail

Then yeast is added, which starts the fermentation and sugar is converted to alcohol. The beer these hobby brewers make from einkorn is a pale ale.
Kragtorp explains that einkorn, or other wheat varieties, have different characteristics than barley and these can complicate things when the wort is made.

Einkorn beer brewed on a hobby basis at Hemnes has won acclaim from near and far. (Photo: Asle Rønning)

“Using pure wheat malt is challenging,” he says.
The brewers have experimented with various combinations.
The minor details make beer brewing exciting. Small alterations in room temperature, the amount of time used in yeasting and additives such as hops can all have a big impact on the final product.
“It’s a life-long learning process,” says Kragtorp.

Protein rich

Heun is an eager einkorn enthusiast.
“Einkorn is the healthiest thing you can imagine,” he says, referring to its high content of protein and other nutrients.
“And it tastes good too,” he adds.
Those who are lucky enough to have tasted the light and pale einkorn ale, which cannot be bought in stores, all seem to agree.
Einkorn beer from inner Akershus County has been sent in for expert academic evaluation to Munich – a city where beer is famously appreciated, and it has received the stamp of approval.
This autumn, attempts could be made to produce the beer from malt based on Norwegian-grown einkorn. Experimental crops of the ancient cereal have been planted in Aurskog-Høland and it will be exciting to see how the harvest turns out

Christopher Tolkien interviewed by Le Monde

Seems that Cubical 7 had to pull The One Ring PDF's from RPGNow due to request of The Tolkien  Estate. Follow the link for a break down of the interview.

Sedulia's Translations: Christopher Tolkien interviewed by Le Monde