Jack of Harts

BattleTech

by Medron Pryde on December 4, 2025 at 12:01 am

Posted In: Diaries

I’m going to be playing and demoing BattleTech this weekend.

Yes, I run demos. Yes, I do play.

It’s a fun time, and I intend to have a fun time.

I go back to writing on the flip side.

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One Billion Dollars

by Medron Pryde on December 3, 2025 at 12:01 am

Posted In: Diaries

There has been a lot of government fraud over the years. Minnesota has recently had a fair share of it. Estimates are looking to be over one billion dollars sent to one group of individuals, recent Somali immigrants, and used to buy luxury cars and send home to pay for terrorism. One. Billion. Dollars. With a B. That’s the current estimate. It could be more. We don’t know yet. But it’s been going on for years, and every time it’s been talked about, the Democrats just put more money into the fund that was being raided which kept the fraud going. How much does that cost?

Well, estimates are there are 4.5 million citizens in Minnesota. Divide that into One Billion Dollars and you get something just a bit over 200 dollars. The Minnesota government has been giving money to Somalis, over 200 dollars from each citizen in the State. What could you do with 200 dollars? Do you think you could spend it better? Do you think you would like to get the chance to spend it better? This is merely one way in which the Minnesota government spends our money. I’m betting we can find more fraud if we look for it. But even that much is too much IMHO.

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The Battle of the Line

by Medron Pryde on December 2, 2025 at 12:01 am

Posted In: Diaries

I’ve been operating a home for wayward electronics for a very long time. If people don’t want their old junk, I take it and make it useful. I’ve got a line of old computers I run for image generation and games and stuff like that. Pretty much all of them are old corporate rigs that were retired, and they are all in the 10 to 15 to 20 year old range. That makes them too old to run Windows 11 at all. Microsoft told me to buy something new or pay for extended support. Little do they know that I play chicken really well. I’m one of the people who waited them out for the free extended support and got it. Because I’m not getting new computers right now.

But I have been upgrading the ones I have. I just upgraded one of my Lenova M series slim desktops up to 32 gigs of ram and an old GeForce 1030 video card. Old and cheap by modern standards, but a real robust system when tweaked right. I just managed to log into Guild Wars 2 with most of the options on high or medium, and played the game without a hiccup through several big events and some roller beetle racing across the map. That was pretty awesome.

And yes, that means my Battle of the Line continues, as I seek to boost all of the machines on my line to the best I can get out of them. For writing, image generation, and web browsing, gaming… and yes…. AI is on my list of things I want to do.

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Daggers & Dark Powers

by Medron Pryde on December 1, 2025 at 12:01 am

Posted In: Diaries

Sword versus Sorcery is what we have here.
Defiance versus Demand. Challenge versus Command.

Though there are lots of evil foes in the stories ahead, S&S is not so much about good versus evil, or good saving the day, or even evil getting its just rewards. It is far more about an individual (though occasionally a team) spitting in the eye of impossible odds simply because he or she can, or wants to, or wants something on the other side of said odds. S&S protagonists may not actually be heroes despite their doing heroic things. And that’s part of the fun of it all.
Heroic storytelling can teach some amazing truths about being human. About what courage is, what growth and maturity are, how society and even the world works, what it means to be loyal, trustworthy, brave, compassionate. At its least, it entertains. At its best, it entertains and shares a value system for heroics; a passion for heroic stories and a belief in the possibility of heroes.

Check out Daggers & Dark Powers by Raconteur Press, if you dare…

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