Complexity Embedded in Simplicity

Vicky wakes up early, before the rest of the party, and heads back to the tower.  Just as she did the day before, she makes herself invisible, sneaks into the tower, and reports for duty in the kitchen.  Throughout the day she converses with her fellow servants and overhears head cook Sue say " Bellam Barhold is such a lush. He does enjoy his wine. He’s always complaining about how he can’t get any of the good stuff here in the borderlands. " Shivers, Lumond, and Harlocke wake for the day, eat their breakfast quietly at the Inn, then head to the farmland area of town so they can discuss their strategies out of earshot of other town folk.  Lumond hands Shivers a note Vicky left for him outlining some items she needs procured from the market while she is gone.  The meeting concludes with Shivers making his way to Master Caldwin’s Cauldron to purchase 2 doses of  Oil of Restfulness .  Harlocke bullies a local teen into giving him a crutch then proceeds to dis...

  After a lot of design work, 3d printing, CNC routing, wiring, programming, resin work, and assembling, I was finally able to see one side of the cube lit!  Added a basic glowing function just by moving the R of the RGB from 0 to 255 and back down to 0 with a 5ms delay between each step.  Nothing fancy and I'll probably do some interpolating between a time frame like I used to do in Unity projects rather than directly from 0-255.  That would allow me the ability to set a few preset time intervals and the interpolation function would just handle the transition between color start/end. One of the curious things was if I could see the LEDs behind the 3d printed edges.  At first I didn't mind it but now I'm thinking I'll glue some tin foil behind the 3d printed edges to block the LED from glowing through.  I mostly want to see the small resin lines glowing and not the edge pieces. My son and I discussed having a weathered look because in the game, you beat thi...

  Aldencross is a township of necessity. It exists only because Balentyne exists. First, there was the dwarven bridge that spanned the nearby River Tyburn. That bridge was built in a time when a great dwarven kingdom spanned the entire island both north and south. That bridge was a critical lifeline connecting the dwarven realms, north and south. In time, the dwarven realms faltered and disappeared but their sturdy bridge remained surviving through the centuries. When King Accarius IV called the Architect built the Watch Wall, this ancient bridge was an obvious place to build a fortress. The king considered destroying the bridge but decided against it. The bridge might be useful in the planned invasion of the Savage North (that invasion never materialized) and the mere existence of the bridge meant the bugbears had a known choke point they were likely to attack. And so the dwarven bridge became the death trap called Balentyne. Balentyne was not far from a crossroads where the north...

  My son really enjoys the game  Portal .  When he moved into his new place he reached out about interior decorating and asked I keep an eye out for Portal themed stuff.  My brain came up with the notion that a cube was a constant in the game but could also function as a makeshift piece of furniture like a stool or end table.  So I went to the internet and looked at others who have undertaken such a task. After lots of tiny 3d printed cube models, which just won't fit what we need, I came across Mr. Volt's Companion Cube video .  It looked promising, but also VERY advanced.  I didn't need it to be made from metal, I was fine with wood.  I didn't need all the extra bells and whistles.  Plus his 3d printers have a much larger build capacity than my Ender 3's.  Thankfully, he offers his  CAD Files  free for everyone to use. Sidenote: I really wish I could just donate some cash to these makers rather than join some monthly membersh...