{"id":1195,"date":"2016-07-22T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-07-22T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/?p=1195"},"modified":"2016-08-17T22:48:40","modified_gmt":"2016-08-17T21:48:40","slug":"%cf%80-approximation-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/?p=1195","title":{"rendered":"\u03c0 Approximation Day"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m counting a thing that happened the night before as happening on \u03c0 Approximation Day, because of time zones.<br \/>\nOr something.<\/p>\n<p>Tamsin had asked about how the Gen Con events registration system worked, so we had a play with it, using the keyword &#8220;Pirate&#8221;, because why not?<br \/>\nThis came up;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/QAGS.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1128\" src=\"https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/QAGS.png\" alt=\"QAGS\" width=\"973\" height=\"830\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/QAGS.png 973w, https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/QAGS-300x256.png 300w, https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/QAGS-768x655.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 973px) 100vw, 973px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>It would have been\u00a0<em>morally wrong<\/em> not to get a ticket, and of the three sessions, one was in a gap in my schedule.<br \/>\nSo we filled that gap.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/IMG_20160721_232254602.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-1129\" src=\"https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/IMG_20160721_232254602-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_20160721_232254602\" width=\"530\" height=\"298\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/IMG_20160721_232254602-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/IMG_20160721_232254602-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/IMG_20160721_232254602-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The GM&#8217;s name was familiar, and after some checking, it turned out to be the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mikeymason.com\/\">Mikey Mason<\/a> I&#8217;d heard of; Geek Rock Comedian, Gamer, and I\u00a0<strong>think<\/strong> the first person to welcome me to the Fear The Boot Forums when I signed up &amp; made an introductory post.<br \/>\n<em>I should point out that not all of his stuff is Geek or Gamer related, nor is all of it intended to be funny.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>From what I can tell from his website posts about his games, we must have found the game soon after it went up on the Gen Con site. Certainly my one ticket was taken into account when he mentioned seats available, so I must have only just bought it, based on post timings and some frankly suspect conversions between time zones.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Breakfast, as is appropriate for\u00a0\u03c0 Approximation Day, was pancakes.<br \/>\nWith chocolate and bananana.<br \/>\nFrom a Himalayan cafe.<br \/>\nBecause it&#8217;s Edinburgh.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;d had a filthy cough the previous few days, to the extent that planning seemed sort of pointless, and on the day the prospect of renting a car to go and see castles didn&#8217;t really appeal; I was uncertain as to how my stamina would last.<br \/>\nThus, we went to the Scottish Parliament, to see those bits they&#8217;ll let you wander around.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/IMG_20160722_133937535.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-1201\" src=\"https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/IMG_20160722_133937535-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_20160722_133937535\" width=\"530\" height=\"298\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/IMG_20160722_133937535-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/IMG_20160722_133937535-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/IMG_20160722_133937535-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>There are the outlines of people worked into the debating chamber, to remind the MSPs that they are being watched, and that they&#8217;re here to do a job. I rather like the sentiment.<br \/>\nThere&#8217;s also the poem &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk\/poetry\/poems\/opening-scottish-parliament-9-october-2004\">Open The Doors<\/a>&#8220;, by Edwin Morgan, written for the opening of said Parliament, which is worth a read.<br \/>\n<em>You can buy postcards with bits of it, or the whole thing, in the wee shop, because of course there&#8217;s a Gift Shop.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Next we went to the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tracscotland.org\/scottish-storytelling-centre\">Scottish Storytelling Centre<\/a>, which includes the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tracscotland.org\/scottish-storytelling-centre\/john-knox-house-step-inside-history\">Knox House<\/a>, which is a preserved chunk of mostly-1500&#8217;s Edinburgh, preserved because of a fairly fleeting historical association with John Knox.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/IMG_20160722_153508569_HDR.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-1206\" src=\"https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/IMG_20160722_153508569_HDR-576x1024.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_20160722_153508569_HDR\" width=\"530\" height=\"942\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/IMG_20160722_153508569_HDR-576x1024.jpg 576w, https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/IMG_20160722_153508569_HDR-169x300.jpg 169w, https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/IMG_20160722_153508569_HDR-768x1365.jpg 768w, https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/IMG_20160722_153508569_HDR.jpg 1836w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>To finish up, we toured the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.edinburghmuseums.org.uk\/venues\/the-writers--museum\">Writer&#8217;s Museum<\/a>, with floors dedicated to Burns, Scott, &amp; Stevenson.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ll be honest, I&#8217;m not certain that I&#8217;ve real <em>all<\/em> of anything by Stevenson, but I&#8217;m damn sure I&#8217;ve read nothing by Burns or Scott. Unless that Haggis thing counts?<\/p>\n<p>Then, on the way back, we saw this.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/IMG_20160722_160245232_HDR.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-1204\" src=\"https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/IMG_20160722_160245232_HDR-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_20160722_160245232_HDR\" width=\"530\" height=\"298\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/IMG_20160722_160245232_HDR-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/IMG_20160722_160245232_HDR-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/IMG_20160722_160245232_HDR-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/IMG_20160722_160438837_HDR.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-1205\" src=\"https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/IMG_20160722_160438837_HDR-576x1024.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_20160722_160438837_HDR\" width=\"530\" height=\"942\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/IMG_20160722_160438837_HDR-576x1024.jpg 576w, https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/IMG_20160722_160438837_HDR-169x300.jpg 169w, https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/IMG_20160722_160438837_HDR-768x1365.jpg 768w, https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/IMG_20160722_160438837_HDR.jpg 1836w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Ahhh, students, &#8230;<\/p>\n<p>It was a great day.<br \/>\nCan&#8217;t really say much more than that.<a href=\"https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/I-approve-your-birth-and-pancakes-Deadpool.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1223\" src=\"https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/I-approve-your-birth-and-pancakes-Deadpool.jpg\" alt=\"I approve your birth - and pancakes - Deadpool\" width=\"550\" height=\"309\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/I-approve-your-birth-and-pancakes-Deadpool.jpg 550w, https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/I-approve-your-birth-and-pancakes-Deadpool-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m counting a thing that happened the night before as happening on \u03c0 Approximation Day, because of time zones. Or something. Tamsin had asked about how the Gen Con events registration system worked, so we had a play with it, using the keyword &#8220;Pirate&#8221;, because why not? This came up; It would have been\u00a0morally wrong [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-it-can-be-fun-to-run-away"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3O6N9-jh","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1195"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1195\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1224,"href":"https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1195\/revisions\/1224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}