Wildfire Copse

 

Jungle Copse

 

Copse

Using the trees Jeff printed for me and some other odds and ends, I created a copse suitable for use as wargaming or roleplaying terrain. 
 

Half Baked Halo

 

Spun Unspun

Thoughts whirl like
All the space stuff caught in the event horizon of a singularity
Splash and fuss spinning around the nothing at the centre
 

A Visual Metaphor

 

Harper's Dry Goods

Transforming the glasses wipes into a roof and walls for Harper's Dry Goods wasn't as difficult or messy as I expected. 

I guess it's kind of neat that you can see the frame through the walls and roof. Did dry goods buildings in the old west ever use cloth for walls or floors? Maybe it helped coffee grounds and the like stay dry . . . 

Please don't steal our dry goods! 

Dry Goods, Roofless

I have assembled Harper's Dry Goods for my Old West town, but there's something missing--the roof (and walls). The kit came with three packs of glasses wipes, which I'm supposed to coat in white glue and then spread over the roof and wall frames. That's going to be a messy job, but if I do it right, I may wind up with something more interesting than the typical wooden slats seen on other Old West buildings. 
 

A Red Barn

I put together this MDF barn kit but found the colour unappealing. Barns should be red, but I didn't want to use acrylic paint for fear I'd cover up the lines etched into the MDF that make it appear as though the barn is made of boards. Instead, I used ink wash. You can see the boards, but my application of the wash isn't exactly even. Good enough for tabletop play, though. 

 

Unconscionable

Today Alberta's UCP government announced most Albertans will have to pay for COVID-19 vaccinations starting this fall.

The government claims this is because over half of Alberta's supply wasn't used over the last couple of years. This isn't surprising, since premier Smith's government has consistently downplayed the severity of COVID-19 and refuses to properly publicize the availability of COVID-19 vaccines and booster shots.

Currently, Alberta has the highest rate of measles cases (per capita) in Canada. This is what happens when a government abdicates its responsibility to debunk anti-vaxxers and instead implicitly supports anti-vax messages through its policies. 

Anti-science, anti-intellectual, anti-vax thinking has brought measles back from the brink of extinction--a disease that can cause death and permanent disability. 

Just like COVID-19. 

Sylvia and I can and will pay for our booster shots. We have that privilege. But what about the majority of Albertans, living paycheque to paycheque, who can't afford a shot expected to cost over $100? I guess they'll just have to take their chances. 

And of course this makes life even more difficult and hazardous for the small minority of people who legitimately cannot be vaccinated for health reasons. These people are usually protected by herd immunity, but Alberta's COVID-19 vaccination rate has dropped down to around 13 percent. Herd immunity requires over 90% of any given population to be vaccinated to protect those who cannot be vaccinated. 

The UCP's decision to charge people for a life-saving vaccine could very well sicken and even kill scores of people. It will likely place immense strain on our already overworked health care providers.

Unconscionable. 

The Landscape of my Mind This Year

Creativity utterly shot. This world, I tell you . . . 
 

Hardware Store Interior

Having built several Old West buildings, I've now started using various odds and ends to give the interior spaces a little verisimilitude. The interior of this hardware store features some extra sledgehammers from Fallout: Wasteland Warfare and a collection of odds and ends left over from a variety of miniature kits. 
 

Professor Zarkov's Rocketship

 

Flotsam

 

Pop Culture

 I always thought these were "knee-highs." I blame Radar. 

Midnight Visitors

 

War of the Worlds: Canadian Front

 

The Bleak House of Blahs 90210

Months ago, I asked Bing Image Generator to craft a portrait of Ron, Allan, Carrie, and me mowing the lawn in front of the Bleak House of Blahs. I tried to describe our younger selves as accurately as possible, but Bing insisted in turning all of us into fitness models. Of course the faces are completely wrong, because I haven't modeled any of us; I need a far better computer for that, and of course even then I wouldn't without consent. 

That genie is probably out of the box, though. I'm sure it won't be long before anyone who's ever posted even a single photo of themselves on the internet will eventually find themselves artificially generated one way or another. Carrie herself, though, should be safe, as she's never had any social media presence. Good foresight! 

Note, too, how primitive these images seem compared to what generative AI is capable of now. The singularity approaches...

The Atari World Series

 

My Dinner with Aquaman

 

Rejecting the Replicator

 

Captain Kirk Deals with a Romulan Spy

Apply directly to the forehead! 
 

Mick's (UPDATED WITH APOLOGY)

Today I finished assembling and painting this Old West building. I decided to style it as a hole-in-the-wall bar, run by an Irish immigrant. 

EDIT: Sean rightfully points out below that "Mick" is often used as a slur against the Irish. I knew this, but had somehow completely forgotten it when I painted the building and blogged about it. I apologized for this embarrassing mistake in the comments, but I repeat it here for posterity: I'm genuinely sorry for my thoughtlessness. I'm leaving this post up as a reminder to myself to be smarter about this sort of thing. 

Tiefling Armed with Daggers

Not my best work. Oof. 
 

Encounter in Green Hell

 

Four Views of a Steel Brother